American Reunion is a 2012 comedy film, written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. It is the eighth installment of the American Pie film series overall, and the fourth theatrical release. The film includes all the cast members from the original three movies, just from knowing that I was very optimistic about it, knowing that it would be better than any of the direct to DVD releases. It is set thirteen years after the events of 'American Pie'. Warning, this review contains mild spoilers.
This was probably one of the most difficult films I've reviewed so far, because there's much I have to hold back so that I don't ruin the movie, but it's also difficult to get my views out without doing that. You'll understand what I mean if you go and see it.
I'm going to start by saying that it's brilliant to see the original cast back together. I thought they were going to miss out a few of the minor characters, but nope, they're all there. I was disappointed that not all the cast members got a lot of screen time, but when you put the whole thing in perspective, it's the same situation they had with 'American Wedding' in the fact that it would be difficult to write a story big enough and interesting enough to give so many cast members their own decently sized part.
It's a funny film, the laughs are consistent throughout, but the main problem I had with this film, is that the only thing that makes it feel like a true American Pie film, is the cast. By that I mean that this film may be funny, but there's no outrages scenes that would instantly come to mind if this film was brought up in conversation. With the first film we have the scene when Jim strips and in the second one when he glues his hand to his penis. These types of scenes are what made the franchise famous in the first place, it was crude, pushing boundaries of what was allowed to be shown on screen, even the direct to DVD releases had scenes like these ones, like in 'American Pie Presents: Band Camp when Matt Stifler gets an oboe stuck on his penis.The trademarks of the franchise are the outrages scenes that we all remember, and will probably never forget. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this movie, but one of the most memorable scenes in my opinion, is in the trailer. There's very little that differentiates it from other comedies out there, apart from, like I said before, the cast. Other parts of the film is similar to its predecessors, in the fact that the gang always manage to take a simple situation, and make it ridiculously complicated, with everything going wrong at every turning, and that's what I love about all the American Pie movies. They're so ridiculous, but it's always in a way that it makes you think "this could actually happen" kind of way, because a lot of the stuff that happens is just exaggerated versions of events that could happen to anyone.
The story itself is actually quite good, it's not all about the reunion, the impending reunion merely brings all the cast members back home to East Great Falls and back together and it centralizes on how much there lives have changed since High School, and how some of them are having trouble adjusting to that life and how the relationships between the characters has changed now that they're older. The reunion itself, acts almost in the same way prom did in the first film, it also acts as the point where they tie off loose ends from the story and they bring in all the characters that they haven't managed to fit in before that point in the film.
All in all the film is one massive blast from the past, if you aren't a fan of the movies, then there's a lot you won't understand about this one, because there are many references back to the first one especially, but if you are a fan, then there's a chance you'll love it. Like I said before, the main problem I have with it is that it doesn't feel like the old American Pies, and the jokes aren't really that fresh, but I would still recommend going to see it, because it's still a good film, it's really funny, and you'll fall in love with the earlier films again. It's definitely a film for you to see with your friends and enjoy yourself. It was a good way to go full circle with the cast and bring it all to an end, but I think it's time the story does end. Yes, they do leave it open for more sequels, but I think it's time they put it to bed, they were pushing it with making this one anyway. I'd give 'American Reunion' a 6.5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment