Movie Review

American Pie 2 (R)

Kit Bowen

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Hollywood.com Says
There is nothing terribly new about this slice of Pie but it was fun to see some old familiar faces.

Story
The happy bunch of high school graduates, having completed their first year of college, come home for the summer. The fab four--totally hopeless Jim (Jason Biggs), hunky Oz (Chris Klein), introspective Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and adorable Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), plus obnoxious Stifler (Seann William Scott)--decide to rent a Great Lake house and spend the summer painting houses for money and trying to grow up a little. All except Stifler, who, naturally, still just wants to get laid. The girls are there too: perky Vicky (Tara Reid), who just wants to be friends with Kevin; sexy Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), who wants to visit Jim at the end of the summer; band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), who helps Jim discover his true sexuality; sweet Heather (Mena Suvari), who remains true to Oz even while being in Europe for the summer; and finally the hottest "M-I-L-F" around, Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge), who keeps Finch mildly obsessed throughout the summer.

Acting
What made the original Pie work so well was the camaraderie between the four main characters. Klein, Biggs, Thomas and Nicholas certainly have a definite chemistry together. It is refreshing to see how their characters have changed, even if slightly, from their high school personas. Still, the movie really belongs to Biggs, who unfortunately has to once again go through a series of incredibly embarrassing moments. Yet his sweet romance with a surprisingly good Hannigan is touching, as is his somewhat genuine relationship with his dad, played with perfect hilarity by Eugene Levy. Another standout is Thomas, who shows the most maturity and depth out of the four. Scott, who actually may have some comedic talent, seems to be creating a career for himself playing the obnoxious doofus. He may want to move on. And completely wasted are Klein and Suvari, as Oz and Heather, whose sickly sweet--and faithful--love affair is simply boring.

Direction
The real problem with the film doesn't stem from the acting--but from the fact that there is no clear direction for the story. With all the gross-out moments and silly shenanigans of the first American Pie, at its heart there was at least a simple story about four high school guys and their mission to have pre-graduation sex. However, this time around, the story is muddled. Rather than having four different stories revolving around the different couples, Pie 2 is more about the guys trying to figure out their lives, focusing mostly on Jim. And what it turns out to be are the boys sitting around deciding a blowout party will change their lives. Wow. And as far as all those scenes that make us cringe, the film has them in spades. But it's the same jokes in different settings. Jim has a humiliating sexual incident. Stifler has to deal with bodily fluids. So nothing really surprises us. There is only one scene, unique to Pie 2, which was actually amusing involving two supposed lesbians and our three boys, Jim, Stifler and Finch.

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