Review of American Pie: The Wedding

Introduction

Who would have thought that American Pie would not only become incredibly popular by spawning two sequels but that it would also be released numerous (sometimes confusing) times on DVD? I was a late bloomer as I got into the whole American Pie thing quite late on, probably less than a year ago. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two films. It had equal amounts of cringe time and genuinely made me laugh out loud. It wasn`t the crap, dull and populist American rubbish I was expecting.

The natural order of things means a wedding for Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) is now on the cards. The gathering of family and friends from both sides, a bachelor party, dancing lessons and Steven Stifler`s ulterior motives to get into Michelle`s younger sister means there`s plenty of room for laughs.

Video

Presented with a 2.35:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer, American Wedding looks good though seems to have had the contrast boosted a little. It`s more noticeable in some scenes and makes some of the darker colours look darker than normal. Despite this it doesn`t present any problems.

Audio

Just one soundtrack, an undemanding Dolby Digital 5.1. Dialogue is clear from the centre and music & sound effects in general work well too. The most impressive surround sound on offer here is when Stifler dances in the gay nightclub. Other sound effects are more ambient in nature

Features

Easy to navigate menus with a handful of extras. All extras are subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (22:10) - 12 cut scenes. Most are presented by writer/producer Adam Herz who gives a quick rundown on each scene, with two introduced by Seann William Scott. I found these a little dull.

• Outtakes (6:07) - Lots of what you expect from outtakes. This is worth watching at least once.

• Stifler Speak (7:16) - Time to concentrate on the insane Steven "Stifmeister" Stifler and how he talks. Don`t watch this if you`re a Daily Mail reader and don`t possess a sense of humour. It takes quite a talent to be this creative with the English language.

• Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party (9:48) - Oh my...a topless and playful maid with cop at a bachelor party. Now if only I could stop grinning...

• Audio Commentaries (subtitled) - Two no less. The first with Director Jesse Dylan and Seann William Scott. The second features Jason Biggs (Jim Levinstein), Alyson Hannigan (Michelle Flaherty), Eddie Kaye Thomas (Paul Finch) and Thomas Ian Nicholas (Kevin Myers). If you have nothing much to do and can spare some time I think it`s worth listening to the commentaries. You do get some interesting nuggets of info

• Grooming the Groom (6:35) - This concentrates on Jim`s pubic hair scene in the hotel near the end. A lot of work went into him shaving and discarding pubic hair...

• Cheesy Wedding Video (3:00) - This looks like a wedding shot on DV. There are no film crew around, just the actors with wedding muzak playing in the background. It looks like every wedding video I`ve ever seen and is a surprisingly nice touch for this DVD.

• Nikki`s Hollywood Journal (9:55) - We follow the ex-Playboy Playmate (she plays Officer Krystal from the Bachelor Party scene) as she gets ready for the American Wedding premier. It`s one of those vacuous throw away PR pieces.

American Wedding has English subtitles and comes packaged in a standard DVD keep case.

Conclusion

The problem with a third film in any franchise is just how far can you really go with characters and story before you`re milking it with weak plots and stupid scenes. I enjoyed the unrated American Pie 1&2 so had certain expectations that this should be at least on an equal footing. The pace, humour and awkwardness of the first 75-minutes works well and entertains but then it falls a little flat during the last 20-minutes. This is the wedding so I think it becomes a bit too sentimental.

This only applies to the end of the film however. Before this there are lots of scenes that are plain silly and good fun. Watching Stifler in the gay nightclub was painful and seeing the bachelor party was harmless exciting fun. Most scenes with the Stifmeister nearly always guarantee a smile or two; truffles will never be looked at (or tasted) in the same way again. If you enjoyed the first two films I`d still say watch American Wedding. It`s fun!