American Pie turns 25. Bonus cinematic throwback.
Many of my all-time favorites came out that year. And we kind of had all the kinds of high school flicks.
We had the sports movie (Varsity Blues). We had the romcoms (She's All That, 10 Things I Hate About You). We had the sleazy drama (Cruel Intentions). We had the satire (Election). We had the horror movie (Idle Hands). We had the dark comedy (Teaching Mrs. Tingle). And those are just the ones I actually liked.
But to this day, my favorite of all of these 1999 high school movies is the sex comedy: American Pie
American Pie's ancestry is those cheesy sex comedies of the 80s. Stuff like Porky's or even Animal House. I actually have never been into those movies. Why does AP fare better? It's simple. They wrote actual characters and added some heart to the proceedings. It makes all the difference.
This movie was coming out during a packed summer, even just for comedies. The Spy Who Shagged Me, Big Daddy, and South Park were already all in theaters by the time American Pie came out. All 3 were great.
And all 3 were pretty high profile too. American Pie wasn't an indie or anything but it was super low budget with no big stars and only a couple actors I had ever seen before. But it had a lot of buzz going in.
I remember seeing it on opening weekend with a buddy of mine, and it was a blast. This movie played like one of those immediate instant classics. Everything that was supposed to be funny got a huge reaction.
As would become customary, the movie opens with a Jason Biggs humiliation. I never got caught, but I do remember the days of scrambled porn. You never leave your back to the door, man, and keep that volume down too ffs!
So Biggs, and his 3 friends (Chris Klein, fresh off Election; Thomas Ian Nicholas, the Rookie of the Year himself; and Eddie Kaye Thomas) all virgins, make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation. A good decision in the writing is that all 4 are pretty likable and engaging, not asshole-ish. The asshole is Stifler, and Seann William Scott basically built his career off playing him.
The girls in American Pie are not just throwaway ditzes though (well, mostly). They get their own time to shine. In the cast, going in, the two biggest draws for me were Natasha Lyonne (who had excelled in a couple movies already) and Alyson Hannigan (hello Willow). And yes, this was very much the actress fandom era for me. Lyonne is great in her too brief screentime, and Hannigan just takes over the movie in the last 20 minutes (everybody knows the flute line).
Like many a young man, I certainly left the movie thinking about Shannon Elizabeth. But my favorite was Mena Suvari, incredibly cute and natural and sweet.
The weak link is Tara Reid, whose character is genuinely awful towards Nicholas for most of the movie.
Eugene Levy is pure gold as Biggs's endlessly supportive dad. Jennifer Coolidge shows up to be lusted after (not sure, but this movie might have coined the term "milf").
The movie has a bunch of absurd and often gross set-pieces. Most ridiculous is the pie fucking of course. Biggs never quite got his due for being willing to make such a fool of himself. Not saying he should have had a major career (I don't think he's ever branched beyond comedy), but it could have been more.
This wasn't really one of those movies that launched any big careers. Pretty much everybody kept appearing in things, but in most cases the best things they've done since American Pie are American Pie sequels.
Loved the bookend party sequences. The soundtrack is elite 1999 stuff, both with existing hits and soundtrack cuts.
Some of this movie didn't age great. I still love the sequence where Biggs broadcasts Elizabeth getting naked over the internet. Pretty sure that's a lawsuit now. But it's still funny, how the humiliation builds and builds.
But you know, it's not just outrageousness and grossness. American Pie is a sweet, occasionally heartfelt movie. Aside from Stifler (well, and Reid), the principals are all likable and engaging. And it really hit that high school nostalgia button. It all takes place in the weeks before graduation, and I had already hit that full high school nostalgia by summer 1999.
I loved the movie instantly, saw it a couple of times in theaters, got the DVD, all of that. But then the next summer we got the Starz channel on cable...and wouldn't you know it that was right when they started airing American Pie. Constantly. And so for weeks, maybe months afterwards, I was kind of always watching this movie. It was rewatchable as hell. The Phantom Menace had a huge head start, and still may be #1, but I can guarantee that American Pie is at minimum the 1999 movie I have watched the SECOND most.
And 25 years later, it remains one of my all-time favorite comedies and favorite high school movies.
Comments
Post a Comment