AMERICAN PIE 2 (2001) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Shannon Elizabeth, Alyson Hannigan, Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Chris Own, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Eugene Levy. Story by David H. Steinberg and Adam Herz. Screenplay by Adam Herz. Directed by J. B. Rogers. Rated R. Approx. 115 minutes.
American Pie 2 is filled with laughs. But they are mostly cheap ones built primarily upon sexual degradation and adolescent humor more fit for a locker room than a movie theater.
I'm no prude and I admit to laughing along with everyone else at the preview screening to this sequel to the 1999 hit comedy.
But the laughs are built on discomfort and embarrassment, not on any intrinsic humor from within the story itself.
What separates American Pie 2 from its predecessor is heart. Of the original, I noted it was "a warm, pleasant outing about the travails of growing up."
Well, the quartet of chums - Jim (Jason Biggs), Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) - have grown up. At least they are a year older, but don't seem any wiser.
Fresh from their first year of college the quartet, along with the obnoxious Stifler (Seann William Scott), rent a summer house by the lake in order to attract girls in an attempt to score.
As usual nothing goes right until the last reel. But what we are left with is five guys spending nearly two hours drooling over various young women.
And American Pie 2 is rather degrading to women. For the most part, they are not shown as individuals. They are nothing more than potential recipients of over-active, raging hormones.
It is telling that the most normal couple, Oz and Heather (Mena Suvari) spend the bulk of the film trying to have phone sex - she's overseas on an exchange student program.
Despite having been to college, Jim is still klutzy and awkward, unsure of himself around the opposite sex. Most of the pratfalls and humiliations are heaped upon him, including a painful episode involving an instant glue-like substance.
Also uncomfortable to watch is a sequence involving three of the lads with two young women roommates, whom the boys suspect of being lesbians. It is offensive and plays upon outdated, adolescent stereotypes to generate laughs.
The first film, despite some raunchy moments, had an innocent charm to it. The sequel is more cynical. It knows what its predominantly male audience members want and unabashedly gives it to them: The many mentions of Finch's encounter with Stifler's mom becomes a tiresome running gag throughout as does Eugene Levy's return as Jim's well-meaning, trying-to-be-hip dad.
The only performer who is actually given some new, fresh material is Alyson Hannigan as Michelle, the band geek from the original. In the sequel, she imbues her character with vulnerability, wisdom and maturity.
American Pie 2 is a pre-sold commodity that will earn several million at the box office. It is a shame, though, that in its rush to rake in some bucks screenwriter Adam Herz, who also penned the original, could not have set his sights higher.
American Pie 2 is funny, but it's still a comedown as well as a letdown.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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