American Pie: Reunion Review

Has the best piece of American Pie been saved till last or does the latest effort crumble? JOE went along to American Pie: Reunion find out.

Let’s face it; school reunions are rarely as fun as they sound. Often times they descend into boasting from former classmates, ill-advised and extremely public former flames hooking up or even worse, a feeling that your best days are behind you.

That certainly would have been the view of the American Pie franchise up until the release of American Pie: Reunion this week, as the series stalwarts had long moved on to pastures new, while Eugene Levy bravely toiled in themed direct-to-DVD releases.

This simply wouldn’t do. After all, the original American Pie 13 years ago was the film coined the term ‘MILF’, took the gross-out comedy genre to its slightly illogical conclusion with a teen violating a pastry and in the character of Finch bedding Stifler’s Mom, gave nerdy teenage boys a new hero.

After a couple of indifferent sequels, every single person you’ve ever seen in an American Pie film – including the “Sherminator” and the two guys who chanted ‘MILF!’ in the original – is seemingly back and though times have changed, the jokes - everything from masturbation gags to poo-related pranks - are still as funny as ever.

Reunion's central plot involves the dwindling sex life of series protagonist Jim (Jason Biggs) and wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), new parents who have discovered that the patter of tiny feet has sadly led to a lack of action in the bedroom.

Elsewhere, Jim's bereaved father Noah (Eugene Levy) is making slow progress back on the dating scene, jock Oz (Chris Klein) is a national joke after a reality TV appearance, married Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is in his wife’s pocket, Finch’s (Eddie Kaye Thomas) globe-trotting adventures sound suspect and even poor Stifler (Seann William Scott) is slumming it as a put-upon temp.

Clearly these guys need a party and in Reunion, the film’s three acts all centre around parties – a beach party with obnoxious youngsters getting their comeuppance, a Stifler-hosted party with some suspect bondage gear and finally, the reunion itself, which is a combination of grin-inducing fan service and well-chosen 1990s hits.

Though comedy tastes have changed plenty in the intervening years since the series began, where American Pie: Reunion succeeds is in its ability to craft prolonged sequences of excruciating embarrassment. Witness Jim taking a topless 18-year-old he used to babysit home in the dead of night (don’t ask) without either her parents or his wife noticing, or the same character’s manhood decidedly not well hidden in a separate scene involving kitchenware.

In fact, just try watch nearly every scene (through closed fingers, ideally) of Jason Biggs and wonder just how the actor agreed to debase himself continuously for our enjoyment through the film. We hope he was well paid – he deserves it.

With committed performances from its returning cast, American Pie: Reunion could have easily descended into a back-slapping exercise yet the script is king here. Sure, nostalgia does overrule a few decisions (we had blissfully forgotten Shannon Elizabeth’s ‘acting’) yet American Pie: Reunion feels like a great night out in the company of old friends.