Superb (American Pie (Ultimate Edition, DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	American Pie (Ultimate Edition, DVD)
Date:	16/09/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny and a bit clever

Disadvantages: Also crude and brutally honest

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room

Teen comedies really are a dime a dozen in the film world, such that audiences have pretty much become jaded with them, because they're largely not very smart and just relentlessly crude. American Pie however, manages to balance smarts with laughs with a fair degree of success - what I admire most about the film is its sheer honesty, and the way in which it captures the sheer embarassment of being a teenager.

The plot revolves around four teenagers who form a pact to lose their virgnity before graduation, after hearing that Sherman, a nerdy, socially inept idiot, has managed to lose his. The four boys are - Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), the most sensible of the group, who is trying to have sex with his girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid), but she's anxious in case he's just after her for sex - Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher (Chris Klein), a not-so-bright jock who joins the jazz club to give the impression he's sensitive, to try and woo Heather (Mena Suvari), a geek - Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), a nerdy sophisticate who attempts to woo girls through reputation, with much failure - and the film's protagonist, Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs), who is infatuated with an exchange student, Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth).

The film has a wealth of crazy situations, perhaps most famously the "webcam incident", which I won't spoil, and numerous other ridiculous and ingenious happenings. It's a laugh riot of a film but also has enough smarts and dramatic elements to ensure that it's not just a brainless slew of dick and fart jokes. It in fact does grab quite well at something, and that's the awkwardness of the high school experience.

One of the finer films of it kind. Outrageously abhorrent, yet insanely watchable, this film rises above its stereotypical roots and is immensely entertaining.

Summary: A comedy classic