Shelter Shed Giggles

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 1999)

Gross out comedies about fumbly teenage sexual adventures have a lively and appreciative market judging by the young audience I shared this movie with the other night. But will anyone else find American Pie worthy fare, even taken slice by slice?
In Porky's (1981) a pie was pierced by a penis, an event that obviously rendered a significant celluloid scar upon the minds of the makers of American Pie. Fast Times At Ridgemount High (1982) and a larder full of others followed Porky's with similar themes, even if as far as I can remember a pie didn't feature as it does again in American Pie.
And then last year a certain body fluid became a fashion accessory in There's Something About Mary, which is certainly not about teensters having it off for the first time, but is the most striking example of the tendency for extreme vulgarity in teen market films.
And yes semen again becomes a plot element in American Pie and yet again it's not placed in its intended receptacle, but is this funny as it is intended to be?
Well it depends on whether you are a giggly, embarrassed teenager. The scene is set early in the film when four male friends in their last weeks of high school decide that they have better get laid by the prom. I'll assume that you all know what a prom is. We've all seen enough of these films to know.
Anyway there's the sports jock (Oz) who falls for a local chorister (Mena Suvari). There's Jim (Jason Biggs) of pie fame who's dorky dad (Eugene Levy ) steps in to help with porn mags. Kevin reckons that oral sex doesn't really qualify and strange Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) wants to get in on the act but seems the least likely to succeed.
Things have moved on in the 1990's. The humour is more extreme and the technology is more zappy. In previous decades lewd photographs might have been distributed. American Pie indulges in The Internet and Sexcam. We can only suppose what might be on offer in these films in the years to come as bandwidth improves with internet development. It's however nice to see that these children are up with the latest toys.
Children? Yes the actors don't really look 16 or 17 but the age difference is less glaring than it often is. This subject matter is certainly good grist for the film mill. Just about every one does have their first sexual experience, which is always at least memorable.
But what of the notion of sex as a singular event rather than as an integral part of whole relationships? And what of sex as a commodity, as a service to sell, even if money doesn't specifically change hands? Sex does sell and American Pie does that notion no harm.
But still this film does swing firmly to the notion that relationships can be much more than the sex act and one night stands. It will raise a few smiles, but mainly for those who are still giggling behind the shelter shed.