Movie review: American Reunion

“American Reunion” stays true to the rest of the “American Pie” series, delivering exactly what fans would expect. The entire cast from the original movie returns for the East Great Falls Class of 1999 reunion. While it is unclear why they chose to have a 13-year reunion, the movie attempts to address the issue by casually mentioning that everyone was busy and missed the traditional 10-year reunion. Looking past the awkward timing, “American Reunion” gives audiences a dose of inappropriate slapstick humor mixed with a surprising amount of sentiment.

Jim (Jason Biggs) is now in his thirties, married and has a son. He and his wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are struggling to maintain their romance with a new baby in the house. Everyone from the class of 1999 is having relationship issues and facing new adult problems such as fidelity and past lovers. Lovable idiot Stifler (Seann William Scott) exemplifies the rough job market as he settles for a horrible temp position.

“American Reunion” tries to push the theme of a coming-of-age story but still remains true to the original trilogy. Seemingly every detail of the movie brings back a memory of one of the previous three films. For avid fans of the first movie, “American Reunion” is a bit nostalgic.

While “American Reunion” provides a solid amount of laughs, the movie has a few slow parts as well. The film tries too hard to provide life lessons, making it seem as though moviegoers get all of their advice from raunchy comedies. It was hard to take the lessons about true love seriously while watching nude teenage girls and listening to penis jokes.

Overall, fans of the “American Pie” series will be happy with the inside jokes and copious sexual innuendo. However, this is not a movie for anyone who doesn’t know the series at all or doesn’t remember it well—this sequel was definitely made for the die-hard fans.