AMERICAN PIE 2 A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Hey, break open a keg. The gang's all here. In James B. Rogers's AMERICAN PIE 2, it's a year later, and everyone has just finished their first year of college. So that they can make it a summer to remember, the guys, Jim (Jason Biggs), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and, most of all, Stifler (Seann William Scott), whose irreverent smart mouth makes the movie, have rented a beachfront house.
In order to remind us of the bawdy incidents that we loved from the first movie, writer Adam Herz begins with a lot of not so subtle references to the original, which the audience laps up. Although no pie is harmed in the making of this movie, you can be sure that Jim will have another encounter that he won't soon forget or be able to live down. As soon as you see the cause of his troubles this time, you'll guess what will happen, but that will in no way detract from your enjoyment of the results. Actually, the two most memorable scenes in AMERICAN PIE 2 are centered on Stifler. One is based on champagne, and another involves men's fantasy of homosexuality -- but only among women.
The director and the editor (Larry Madaras) seem to make just the right choices in knowing how long to stay with a scene and when to cut away. The movie itself feels like a compendium of the best episodes from an entire season of a raunchy cable sitcom.
Not much has changed from when we last saw our studs and would-be studs. Jim worries, correctly, about how bad he is in bed. Jim pines for the voluptuous Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), but it is band nerd Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) to whom he goes to for sexual advice.
Oz has a thing only for Heather (Mena Suvari), who is inconveniently abroad. This leaves them with one almost successful phone sex scene and not much else to do in the movie.
Finch is in training to be the world's greatest lover to his goddess, Stifler's Mom (Jennifer Coolidge). And Kevin wants only the unobtainable Vicky (Tara Reid). They settle by agreeing to be "friends."
Among the story's many gems is the "Rule of 3." Take the number of women that a man claims to have slept with and divide the number by three. For women, the operation is multiplication rather than division.
AMERICAN PIE 2 has some large laughs but not many genuine surprises. One surprise, however, is that it can sometimes be as sweet as it is funny. The best example of this occurs when Michelle tries as hard as she can to teach Jim the finer points of love making. As she put its succinctly, "You've got to preheat the oven before you stick in the turkey." Michelle is the type of girl that every guy wishes had lived next-door when they were growing up. It's not a blonde bombshell that guys want. It's an understanding female to show them the real ways of romance. Michelle provides that charmingly for Jim.
AMERICAN PIE 2 runs 1:40. It is rated R for strong sexual content, crude humor, language and drinking and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 10, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
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