After the summer of 1999, you probably won't be able to look at Mom's apple pie (or third base) in quite the same way.

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2001)

In American Pie, the frat-boy, gross-out humor gets laughs, but not because of any especially clever writing. It gets our attention by saying things we've seldom heard on screen before. They had to outdo THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, right? One movie's hair gel puts head on another movie's beer. It's PORKY'S for the new millennium. The simple story has four high school friends with hormones raging, obsessing about sex. How to lose one's virginity before prom night, only two weeks away? Get busy, guys.

Jim, who has been interrupted by his father while putting a tube sock to new use, has few romantic prospects. Kevin seems to be better positioned as he already has a girlfriend, albeit one who's keeping her thighs wide shut. Oz is a handsome lacrosse player who decides that being sensitive will help him make the score. Finch is so uptight that he must go home to go to the bathroom, but gets the help of a co-ed in spreading rumors of his generous endowment. Will they or won't they? Therein lies the obvious rub. The girls in PIE are given more dimension than the standard for juvenile sex comedies, which is some sort of progress. The fresh cast is quite agreeable, especially Shawnn William Scott as Stiffler and Natasha Lyonne from THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS. Eugene Levy performs a marvelously deadpan cameo as Jim's clueless father.
Remember to keep your eyes on the flute.