American Pie 2 (2001) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com
"I seem to have glued myself... to myself."
Starring Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nichols, Allyson Hannigan, Shannon Elizabeth, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge. Directed by J.B. Rogers. Rated R.
American Pie 2 reunites the cast members from American Pie in a different setting; instead of being high school seniors looking to score before they graduate, they are now past their first year of college and have gathered in a beach house to enjoy the summer of their lives. Jim (Jason Biggs) is still an insecure geek looking to improve his performance, Oz (Chris Klein) is still the sweetest guy on the block, having sickeningly saccharine phone conversations with his studying-abroad girlfriend, Stifler (Seann William Scott) is still a horny stoner, Kevin (Thomas Ian Nichols) still has no personality and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) still longs for Stifler's Mom. Have I missed anyone?
So, obviously, not much has changed. This is not a problem, provided that the movie boasts the rapid-fire hilarity and unexpectedly true sentiment of the original. But American Pie 2 is the very definition of "sequelitis." It's coarser, yes, and it pushes the envelope even more, but its heart isn't in it. It's easy cash to capitalize off the first film's success, but it would have been a worthier investment to prolong the franchise by coming up with something original.
Part of the reason why the film doesn't work, I think, is that while in the original the kids' quest for sex was a coming-of-age stepping stone as much as an outlet for their horniness. Here, everything has been cheapened. They behave like those idiot frat boys who kill themselves drinking; they have no motivation except for sex, sex, beer and sex. That's not to say that you can't make a decent comedy from that premise, but it is one of American Pie 2's undoings.
Missing, too, is the sweetness that permeated American Pie, the this-could-be-you quality of the main players. Here, the characters are too aware of themselves as pop-culture icons, and they're even more one-note. Stifler and Finch are now caricatures while Jim, Oz and Kevin are forced to make awkward self-discoveries at arbitrary moments, none of them betraying what the writers think the audiences want to see.
And then there's the soon-to-be-notorious scene where Jim superglues "himself to himself," which perfectly demonstrates yet another of the film's ailments, one that also permeated Say It Isn't So, director J.B. Rodgers' debut. There's a fine line between comedy and abject humiliation, and American Pie 2 is on the wrong side of it. It's hard to laugh at the characters when you are profoundly embarrassed for them. I shielded my eyes watching this more than I have watching any horror movie.
If there's one redeeming factor to American Pie 2, it's the inimitable Eugene Levy as Jim's dad, who pops in on Jim as he's about to score and utters lines like "your mother and I have been known to get frisky... not so much anymore, but..." and then when the girl's parents walk in, blurts out "this must be your daughter! I didn't get her name, but hopefully my son did."
If only the rest of the movie had the wit and wisdom of Levy's performance. This is an unworthy sequel to a gross-fest that brought back the raunchy teen comedy. The box-office of this onw should keep the genre going strong, which is disappointing. The genre needs a hiatus; filmmakers are getting lazy.
Grade: C-
Up Next: Made
©2001 Eugene Novikov
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