Review - American Pie

Dontcha love it when a movie's marketing is entirely contradictory of the movie itself? Ya know, like Idle Hands being marketed as a comedy, or The Mummy being marketed as an action flick, or Wild Wild West being marketed as a movie? You go to the theater expecting one thing and you get something else entirely. Well, for me anyway, that has happened again with American Pie.

The way that this film was marketed, I expected a movie like There's Something About Mary, filled with sexual innuendo, with a little bit of sex added in for fun. Plus, it seemed a hell of a lot funnier than it really was.

What American Pie ended up doing was tackling a lot more of the tough, relationship-y stuff than I had expected. This unexpected plot twist brings me to pose the question: Is this really what the movie's core audience wants? Do the 14, 15, and 16-year-olds who sneak in to this movie (like it or not, that's what's gonna happen) want to find that they've wasted their time on a sweet chick movie?

Because that's what American Pie really ends up being, a pansy feel-good movie with a message. A message, of all things! As some of my teenage counterparts might say, "Dude, that's like totally messed!"

My favorite part of the film was Alyson Hannigan, whose character, Michelle, is surprisingly funny. All the young actors and actresses in this movie are very good at what they do. But is it really what we're all looking for? Probably not. In the end, it's just another overrated, all-too-forgettable teen flick. And did we really need another one of those right now?

Grade - C+

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