A surprisingly tasty treat

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2001)

OK, so I'm pushing 30 and I missed the big whoop about American Pie
when it released. I've just caught it on DVD, expecting to detest it,
but to my amazement, it left me smiling.
American Pie is primarily a morality tale, with the message that good
things (eventually) happen to good people. This is not at all what I
expected. People who were scandalised by American Pie should really
take a look at the similarly themed classic Animal House, and ask
themselves which one delivers a more wholesome message.
American Pie is an effective, if slightly heavy handed comedy. The
scatological humour is unnecessary (and I mean that in a good way),
but is fairly well handled. The delivery and timing of all the leads
is exemplary, even if most of them look a little long in the tooth to
be high schoolers.
As to the "gross out" elements, they are only a little more extreme
than in the crop of 1980's "bad kids" films, and are par for the
course for the late 90's "There's Something About The Dumber Kingpin
Who Shagged Me" genre pieces. And looking back to my high school and
college years, it occurs to me that, hey, it was *exactly* like that,
drunken fumbling, body fluid mishaps and all.