American Pie: Wie ein heißer Apfelkuchen

"So high school boys everywhere only think about sex, huh?" my Japanese wife turned to me and said about 20 minutes into "American Pie." She looked at me expectantly, as if she wanted to hear me say I was somehow different, above such base pursuits. I could tell she was mildly disappointed when I replied, "Yeah, pretty much." Eighteen-year-old boys' raging hormones is a truly universal theme.

There have been four American Pie films to date, not counting the straight-to-video releases. The film notably struck a chord with teens when it was released in 1999. I remember sitting in art class and overhearing a popular and attractive senior girl condescending to an awkward and geeky freshman boy, "You haven't seen 'American Pie'? The great American sex comedy?" I still cringe when I remember that.

If you haven't seen it, it is basically about four senior boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school. They shrewdly determine prom is their last chance to get laid, and devote all their energy to getting a woman in bed at the after-prom party, to be held at the lake house of the cocky lacrosse player, Steve Stifler. The boys, particularly Jim, have a series of embarrassing mishaps along the way, one famously involving a warm apple pie.

"American Pie" set a new bar for teen comedies. Every teen comedy since has tried, and failed, to top the scene where Stifler unwittingly drinks a beer with a load of semen in it.

Though "American Pie" is famous for its numerous gross-outs, the movie is good, and not just gross, because we come to identify with the characters, and the humor rises naturally from the situations. The scene where Stifler slips laxatives into Finch's mochaccino, causing him to make a desperate dash for the nearest toilet, is funny not because fart sounds are humorous, but because the film already established Finch's aversion for public restrooms.

The Stifler character was especially believable. When Heather (Mena Suvari) asks out Oz (Chris Klein) in front of the lacrosse team, Stifler proceeds to make lewd gestures. Heather misinterprets this as Stifler making fun of her, when Stifler was really just trying to embarrass Oz. When I first saw the film at the age of 16, I thought, That's pretty much how high school boys act.

The acting is serviceable. Eugene Levy, who plays Jim's dad, and Seann William Scott, who plays Stifler, are totally convincing in their roles. (Toward the end of the film, watch Stifler in the background check his beer before he takes a sip.) Others, however, give flat performances, especially in dramatic scenes. However, since these scenes take back seat to the comedy, and few of the jokes fall flat from the acting, the mediocre performances don't hurt the overall effectiveness of the film.

Another criticism I have of the film is one that pretty much applies to all Hollywood films, and that is that the kids are too rich. You can usually tell who the poor kid is in a Hollywood movie because he's the one who's not driving a late-model car. His family will still live in a two-storey house. Every student in "American Pie" (except for Oz, the only one shown to have a job), lives like the richest kid at my high school.

Overall, "American Pie" is an enjoyable comedy that will continue to be the standard against which all teen comedies will be judged. I recommend the unrated version. While scenes in most unrated or extended editions were cut from the theatrical releases for good reasons (i.e., they were tedious), the theatrical version of "American Pie" was really a sanitized version of the better, unrated version.

I have to say that the most fun I had at the movies this summer was when I saw American Pie, the funniest picture I've seen since last summer's There's Something About Mary. This movie has taken the classic teenage boy film (Porky's, Revenge of the Nerds) and spruced it up for the 90's. It is hilarious from start to finish. If you like physical comedy, gross out comedy, sexual comedy, American Pie has it all. A great ensemble cast of likeable young actors makes this a joy to watch.

I think this year's breakout star has to be Chris Klein. He was phenomenal in Election and he is even better here as a jock who tries to soften his image to score before prom. I have a feeling Klein is going to be Hollywood's next big thing and I hope he has a chance to flex his acting muscles in some different movies (I can definitely see this guy in an action film).

Also very good is Jason Biggs who plays the sympathetic Jim character, the guy who is least likely to lose his virginity. His antics are very funny to follow and he gets the lion share of the laughs. Finally a huge ovation for Eugene Levy, who gets major laughs as the Jim's dad.

If you are a person easily offended by a film dedicated primarily to the glory of teen sex, you may well view "American Pie" as yet another in a long line of cinematic harbingers of the collapse of western civilization. If, however, you remember adolescence as essentially a period of unending coitus interruptus, you may well find yourself engrossed by this amusing, though admittedly crude, series of sexual and scatalogical gags woven around a plot involving the desperate attempts of a quartet of last semester seniors to lose their virginity on the fast approaching sexual armageddon known as "prom night."

"American Pie" gleans most of its comic energy from its outrageous examination of the crazy and innovative extremes desperately horny teens will go to in order to experience the thrill of sex in lieu of the real thing. An attractive, game cast helps to mitigate the crudity of many of their actions and the filmmakers' lighthearted tone encompasses the characters in such a cloak of affection that the audience identifies with, rather than condemns, their antics.

As meager compensation for the moralists among us, the film does heavily promote the use of condoms and comes up with even more creative prophylactics for those times when a partner is not available.

"American Pie" is certainly not for every taste and there are those who would argue that it serves a less than salutary purpose as a guide for already sex-obsessed teenagers. Be that as it may, the film provides a fair number of hearty chuckles for those of us who can find humor in a group of backward youngsters experiencing the frustration and desperation we have all, at one time, experienced.

I do have one troubling question though: why do none of these characters, whenever they are involved in a potentially compromising position, ever lock a door? The answer, I suppose, is obvious for, if they did, at least half the film's biggest laughs would become impossible to achieve. For this film, at least, such a suspension of disbelief may be a prerequisite.

Be forewarned but enjoy!

I laughed so hard I spit out half the bucket-o-pop I was drinking, and finally had to stop sipping from its fine nectar, because so many times I was hooting and bending over in joy.

There are some slower moments to let you catch your breath and allow for moments of sincerity, but only for a minute. The scenes in the previews (the ones you think will ruin the movie for you) are expounded on ten-fold, so there are plenty of surprises.

During the movie I kept saying, "This is me and my friends when we were in high school!" They were almost the same conversations about life, sex and girls; just not as frequently, but it's only a two-hour film. Any guy will appreciate American Pie full tilt, and girls will realize just what hoops guys jump through in order to get their attention, let alone in their pants.

What added to American Pie is that I liked every character, because the filmmakers didn't feel the urge to give us prototypical teen characters. Their personalities are distinctive, and their situations are all different, which leads to a hilarious finale where we see just how their pact plays out on prom night.

As I mentioned before, there are genuine moments on the screen where the guys and gals have revelations of sincerity. It adds a needed depth to a film like this, where it's not just raw, raunchy comedy, but important to the lives of the characters who know more than sex is at stake. Which is another reason to like Pie, there are several slices, and sexual conquest is only one of them.

American Pie starts right off with shock value, and while the film relies heavily on it, there's plenty of story and exceptional performances to hold your interest. I attended a sneak preview of what I was told was a rough cut of the film, although there was only one scene that looked unfinished. The underlying story here is that of four high school senior buddies who have made a pact with each other to get laid before they graduate, specifically at the prom. The problem is, only one of them has a serious girlfriend, and she can't decide if she's ready for sex. But where the film really makes an impact is in it's numerous masturbation related scenes. There is one scene particularly early in the film that should test your stomach for the rest of the film's humor. Now while the film may not sound like it has good morals, there is one repeated underlying message, and that is to do what you like and not what you feel pressured to do. Unfortunately, this is NOT the kind of film its target audience should be seeing. At times it makes getting laid seem like the most important part of high school. The strength of the film lies in the fact that everyone who went to a public high school can relate to some aspect portayed here, and in the strong and well-timed performances of the talented cast. If you're mature enough to appreciate the film for its sheer comical performances, then you should really enjoy it. But if you don't like "toilet humor", then you might not find anything appealing with this one. Definitely not a date movie.