MOVIE REVIEW: 'American Reunion' too similar to old films
"American Reunion" does exactly what the title implies; it brings together all of the characters from the core "American Pie" movies for more vulgar and outrageous shenanigans.
The result is a comedy that’s enjoyable enough, but one that is also too predictable, corny and similar to the past films for anything to feel fresh.
The film stars Jason Biggs, reprising his role as the awkward Jim Levenstein, who once again finds himself in plenty of troublesome situations. He is joined by Sean William Scott as Stifler, Eddie Kaye Thomas as Finch, Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kevin and Chris Klein as Oz.
Finch, Kevin and Oz are a different story. None of them give incredibly bad performances, instead they’re just bland. All three of them are involved in some amusing moments during the film, but those moments are easily overshadowed by much funnier things that happen involving different characters.
Seeing the group of guys hanging out together just doesn’t seem to be very believable all around. It feels more like watching a group of guys read lines from a script to each other, as opposed to a bunch of high school friends getting together after being apart for a long time.
Oz may be the worst out of everyone, not because he isn’t funny, but because he is so corny and bogus during the dramatic scenes that it is almost unbearable at times.
"American Reunion" has plenty of problems in general when it comes to its dramatic portions coming off as incredibly cheesy, but Oz takes things to a completely different level of cheese.
The love interests from the past films return as well. Alyson Hannigan is back as Jim’s wife Michelle, along with Tara Reid as Vicky and Mena Suvari as Heather.
"American Reunion" isn’t really concerned with the female characters though. They’re really just there to move the plot along whenever it’s convenient for the film. Even Michelle has a pretty sparse role, and she’s married to the main character.
In the end, “American Reunion" will probably leave audiences with a smile on their faces, but that smile will likely wear off rather quickly.
