Inevitable, kinda funny...

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 1999)

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said? Now, I know this movie is called a comedy, but I found it a little too gross to laugh at sometimes. At any rate, I really like social satire, from obvious sources like "Saturday Night Live" and "National Lampoon" to more hidden forms, like anything by Mel Brooks ("Blazing Saddles" especially) and "South Park." American Pie sounded like a neat idea, because I don't think that the 90's have been spoofed enough. In the 60s, social satires like THE PRODUCERS were around. Then, there was BLAZING SADDLES in '74. The 80s gave us "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" which I liked alot. But the 90s has given us either 60s throwbacks or fantasy satire(where the film is satirizing something that doesn't really exist!) Now, I know that if someone made a movie(like BLAZING SADDLES) with negative images of minorities, or dancing Nazis,there would be riots in Washington. But maybe, that's where these new comdies and "satires" go wrong. Instead of blithely attacking current issues (racism, political corruption, murder), they go after themes that were cliches back in 1580 when William Shakespeare was the world's leading satirist! AMERICAN PIE is nothing more than a more graphic teen love story. It's saitre could be seen on a variety of levels- we could perceive it as a representation of the carefree 90s, where little can go wrong. we could perceive it as an attack on the machine age a la MODERN TIMES (the Internet camera left on in the room) And we could perceive it as a comment on the voyeurism that goes on today (the friends eagerly watching the TV hookup to the room, etc.) Take it or leave it, AMERICAN PIE was the "big" movie during the summer of '99-the summer that Hollywood agreed that audiences were ready for scenes in a kids' comedy that are more shocking than the most disturbing images of SCHINDLER'S LIST or SAVING PRIVATE RYAN! My only problem with the whole thing is that in twenty-five years, AMERICAN PIE will seem just as shocking-but in a different way. How- I don't know. But, witness BLAZING SADDLES. I mean, it couldn't get released today because of the racism, but in 1974 the racism was the least of the problems-it was the language and the famous campfire scene. But today, the language heard in that R-rated movie can be heard in any PG rated movie or TV show, and the campfire scene can be found in such children's movies as DENNIS THE MENACE! So, I wonder, in 25 years, where this movie will stand. The sex scenes won't be the problem. The problem will be something that we don't even notice today. What-I don't know, but it will be interesting to find out what it will be.