American Wedding (2003) / Comedy-Romance

MPAA Rated: R for sexual content, crude humor and language
Running Time: 102 min.

Cast: Seann William Scott, Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, January Jones, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Thomas Ian Nicholas
Director:  Jesse Dylan
Screenplay: Adam Herz
Review published August 3, 2003

Not quite as good as the first American Pie, it's also not quite as bad as American Pie 2.  This is the third installment of the lewd and crude comic series that will probably please the biggest of its fans because it delivers exactly what they expect, following the exact same formula set forth from the previous two outings.  Too bad what was outrageously surprising has now become mundane.  We know there's going to be a heap of gross-out sight gags and to also expect the worst.  American Wedding succeeds in being little more than an afterthought to the series, and most of our viewing time is spent trying to guess what raunchy slapstick scene is about to happen next, with hands covering our eyes before having to actually see it.

The gang is back, well some of them anyway.  Jim is about to get married to Michelle, so lots of preparations have to be made.  With Stifler on hand, things are bound to go wrong, especially when he is spending most of his time trying to woo Michelle's younger sister, Cadence. 

American Wedding can only be appreciated if you really liked the first two films.  I didn't, so my low overall review should come as no surprise.  Sure, there were about two or three moments where I couldn't help but laugh, but these were few and far between.  If anything, things have become so formulaic, it's actually quite boring a good deal of the time.  You know things are pretty bad for a series where you're not surprised to see Stifler eating dog feces, and what's worse, almost want him to eat it just to get the scene over with.

What was once a bold and brash comedic undertaking has now been boxed in by audience expectations.  By this time, no one should expect the creators to do anything else with these characters but see them in wholly contrived sexual situations and eating the most disgusting of waste matter.  The only thing American Wedding does different than the other two films is to give you as much Stifler as possible, while the other kids take a back seat to his antics.  He's practically in every scene.  Once again, crudeness is displayed to the max, then another attempt at annoying sweetness by the end.  Ho-hum.

It's the third helping of Pie, and no matter how many you get, it's just never going to be as satisfying as the first slice. 

Qwipster's rating:

©2003 Vince Leo