I wouldn’t go as far as to say that American Reunion ruined the American Pie franchise (which to me includes only the movies with Jason Biggs – American Pie, American Pie 2, American Wedding). Still, it was a movie that did not need to be made. American Pie is one of the ten if not five, funniest movies ever made. To me, There’s Something About Mary started the trend of over the type R Rated comedies that have since become one of my favorite genres. And While There’s Something About Mary is a classic, and she is remembered as the movie that opened the doors for these other movies, American Pie took the idea to the next level. Much like the first ten minutes of The Ring informed its audience that you are about to be freaked out for the next two hours, the original American Pie let its audience know that you would be laughing so hard for the next hour and a half that your sides would be hurting by the end.

There are two major problems with American Reunion. The first is that it tries too hard to be funny. I admit that I was chuckling pretty well during the film’s opening sequence and a couple of other parts early in the movie. But the more the movie tried to become sentimental (which was problem number two), the further it got away from being funny. I don’t think I laughed once during the movie’s second half. The movie tried much too hard trying to wrap up its franchise than it did in trying to make you laugh. So instead of laughing, I wondered how the character with the most minor role in the original American Pie (Alyson Hannigan) became the actress with the most successful career (CBS’s How I Met Your Mother).

The movie is set around the 13th (yes, 13th) class reunion for the Class of 1999 high school graduates. Jim (Jason Biggs – Eight Below, Loser) returns home to celebrate the event with his four best friends Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Oz (Chris Klein), and Stifler (Seann William Scott) with wife Michelle (Hannigan) and his toddler son in tow. Upon returning home, we must have an awkward Jim and Jim’s Dad (Eugene Levy) moment. While we squirmed uneasily in the early movies when Jim’s Dad tried to explain the female anatomy to his son in American Pie and American Pie 2, it now feels forced upon us and isn’t even funny. Biggs’s awkwardness with girls, always the highlight in the early movies, isn’t believable anymore now that he has a pretty wife and a child. The movie revolves around maturing and accepting getting older. Without reading anything about the movie, you would have guessed that this would have been the plot. Unfortunately, American Reunion lacks the freshness that American Pie possessed, and American Pie 2 was also able to capture. I was a huge fan of both movies and thought American Wedding was decent too. I still had no interest in seeing this movie in the theater and only saw it because I was such a fan of the previous ones.

I am not a fan of continuing a franchise to continue a franchise; unfortunately, that is what was done here. A massive box office payday drove this movie more than they wanted to tell a good story. Some of the characters were great. Chris Klein’s Oz as an ESPN-type personality who crossover to be a Dancing With the Stars type of reality star was particularly good. Biggs is the star of the American Pie franchise. When you think of the ten funniest scenes in the franchise, at least half of them involve Jim. Most of these actors and actresses have a limited acting range, which has become more noticeable as they’ve aged. It’s not surprising that you haven’t seen many of them on the screen since 2003’s American Wedding.

Plot 4/10
Character Development 4/10
Character Chemistry 4/10
Acting 4/10
Screenplay 4/10
Directing  4/10
Cinematography 4/10
Sound 2/10 (the previous three movies in the franchise all had great soundtracks…especially the first one. This one does not)
Hook and Reel 7.5/10 (the American Pie movies are well known for their outstanding first scenes)
Universal Relevance 5/10
42.5%

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• American Pie
• Old School
• Road Trip
• There’s Something About Mary
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin