American Reunion is a film for a very specific set of people: those who not only fell in love with American Pie 1, 2, and 3 as teenagers, but are now going on thirty with grown-up jobs and new young families. The series is the Millennial Generation's Animal House, and if it can ever get past its hormonal roots, the Pie series could become a legitimate commentary on an entire generation. Four movies in, however, that looks unlikely. At its best, Reunion is a predictable but heartwarming story of love and trust. At its worst, Reunion is stuck in 1999.
Reunion stays loyal to the franchise's roots and no scene would feel out of place in American Pie 1 or 2. Jim still bumbles in awkward social situations, Kevin struggles to balance his responsibilities with his emotional past, Oz still wrestles with the definition of true love, and Finch remains stuck somewhere between a legitimate love and his fascination with Stifler's Mom. Stifler is still the same asshole he has always been, but his character is handled much better here than in American Wedding, where his dialog, actions, and story arc felt entirely forced. Seeing him cause general chaos, swear like a sailor, and act-before-thinking is a return to the Stifler that made him so entertaining in the first two Pie films.
Unlike the Jim-centric American Wedding, Reunion brings everyone back to East Great Falls and jumps between a half-dozen character arcs over its two-hour run time. Most films would be sloppy with so many stories running at once, and alas, Reunion trades originality for predictability in order to keep everyone in check. Each character's story works best having seen Pie 1 and 2. Those new to the franchise can catch up pretty easily, but at this point each story is extremely bland. Not that the original films had deep, inspired character stories, but they had stories, so we can come into this film with a certain level of nostalgia that makes us root for everyone on screen (yes, even Stifler).
Having revitalized the gross-out genre in 1999, Pie 1 was something of a unique film, but Reunion does not account for any other comedies in the past ten years, especially the Apatow-genre (yes, I just said that). This is 1999's humor without a hint of originality (although one scene of male nudity at least acknowledges the changing times). Again, fans of the franchise know exactly what to expect and when to laugh. Jim's Dad, the excellent Eugene Levy, easily steals the scene and humor as much as possible, with some legit laugh-out-loud moments that elevate the film a few notches. Even better: the film does acknowledge its own ridiculousness sometimes, and does not always take itself so seriously (I point to Exhibit A: "The Caterpillars").
For fans of Pie, seeing everyone back on screen is fantastic. How has everyone been in the last ten years? Who has succeeded and who has struggled? Are these characters any more matured since that fateful prom night in 1999? Reunion addresses all these and then asks a few question for those of us going on thirty. Is marriage all it is cracked up to be? Where do we stand on cheating in relationships? What lies ahead in the next ten years of our lives?
With enough mirrors pointed at our own generation (Stifler still lives at home, for example, unable to get a solid job), Reunion attempts to balance the nostalgia of Pie 1 and 2 with a few social commentaries for all those new mom and dads to think about. Just how has the last ten years treated us? For American Reunion, it is as though the last ten years never even happened.
B3 out.
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