Friday 18 March 2011

American Pie: The Last Slice



It has just been announced that the whole cast of the original American pie has already signed on or is negociating for another (and final?) slice, tentatively called An American reunion. Given the career status of Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, Seann William Scott and others, it probably made a lot of sense for them to come back. The original spawned two disappointing sequels in cinemas, followed by a serie of godawful, straight to dvd, follow ups.

I actually welcome the news as I feel the original is one of the most underrated and sweetest comedy of all time. It was too quickly dismissed as offensive and puerile by people who had not actually seen it, yet I felt its portrayal of teenage life in all its complexity was just spot on. Usually, films depicting teenage life are too unidimensional, portraying them as too smart and confident for their age (as in the enjoyable but not particularly realistic tv serie Skins, whole sole goal seems to be to shock parents), or far too serious (99% of French films about youth)



The characters of American Pie were obsessed with sex (aren't we all at that age?), but there was and awkwardness to them that made them endearing. Sure there were some gross out jokes, but there was also a sweet heart to it all. I particularly love the way the film showed how all the guys learned to respect girls throughout the story, while never sounding patronising or moralistic. There were even some scenes of frank discussions about love, sex and relationships that were a lot smarter than they had any right to be for that kind of film. 

You're very pretty Mrs Robinson...


And then obviously, it had one of the best, most hilarious visual joke of all time featuring ultimate MILF Jennifer Coolidge, with Stiffler walking on his mom having seduced his friend while "Mrs Robinson" was playing in the background... (sadly I cannot find a video of this on YouTube!)

Original directors Paul & Chris Weitz are sadly not returning, but the title itself makes it sound like there is going to be a nostalgic angle to the story, and this is a group of characters I would love to revisit. American Pie: The reunion is out in January 2012.



No comments:

Post a Comment