Tu primera vez

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 has all the ingredients of a good movie. First, the plot deals with young people in search of their first sexual experience. What could be more basic to the human condition? Second, although obviously fiction, the film has a feeling of reality capturing the awkwardness and anxiety of young people at this point in their lives. Third, it is well written and not always predictable as each young man employs his own strategy, and of course, in the real world things do not always go as planned. Fourth, the cast consists of very talented young actors playing characters which may remind the audience of people they may have known. Fifth, the film has its poignant moments. The final ingredient is this movie is hilarious. The film has one liners, sight gags, and situations that very funny. The audience, which ranged from teenagers to middle age, laughed almost constantly and out loud. CAUTION: This film is rated "R" for sexual situations and the use of alcohol by young people. If you are easily offended or sexual humor makes you uncomfortable, stay away. However, if you are not in the aforementioned, you may enjoy it. Three stars!!!

The director and the writer, Paul Weitz and Adam Herz respectively, will do anything for a laugh -- that's good, as it turns out, because this movie has a great many laughs in it. There's not much of that restricting, suffocating "logic" stuff around, but "American Pie" is immensely enjoyable. I mean, almost none of the things that happen in this film would ever, ever come to pass in real life, but it doesn't matter.

For starters, the characters aren't all one-dimensional. Thankfully, they're two-dimensional, so right away it has an edge on 60-70% of all the movies ever made.

Moreover, it's heart is in the right place. Most high school movies these days are all about cruelty and malice, especially towards (and among) the women. Not the case here. This is the first conventional high school movie I've ever seen that made me smile so much (I say conventional because "Rushmore" still trumps every one of them).

Furthermore, it's very funny. I wouldn't dare give away any of the really great gags (we've all seen the trailer -- that's not the one I mean), but I'll say this: Weitz and Herz are extraordinarily skilled in audience manipulation, which is to say that they know how and when to spring unexpected surprises upon us. They also know how to use foul language for punch, rather than punctuation.

The soundtrack is another positive. It's all about joy and high energy -- even music from Third Eye Blind and Barenaked Ladies that suffers from radio overplay fits the mood appropriately.

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.

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!