American Wedding

Despite an embarrassing scene at a restaurant, Jim proposes to his long-time girlfriend Michelle. For their wedding Jim enlists the help of Finch and Kevin to make everything smooth – and keep Stifler out of the way. However a ceremony is hard work and is made harder when things just always seem to go wrong and when Stifler seems to be determined to f**k the bride's sister – even if it means pretending to be mild mannered and polite.

Trying to think about this film or the series itself is like trying to argue with mud, basically you just need to accept that this is a silly, stupid gross out comedy that relies on poor taste jokes and unlikely set ups. If this is a problem for you then don't watch it. If you have accepted it and are watching it then it all comes down to, is it a GOOD gross out comedy with poor taste jokes? As much as I know I should be above it, I did laugh at the other 2 films and was happy to go and see this and, for the most part, I laughed at this. However this was the weakest of the three and the silence in the cinema was quite often uncomfortable – usually silence in a cinema is a good thing, but this was often an uncomfortable `I should be laughing more' type of silence.

In my review of part 2 I said `lets not do a 3'. Watching this I'm sort of glad they managed to do it but I can see the strain despite their best efforts. The main set up sequences are gross and funny but the gaps between are where the silence comes, there ain't enough comedy to cover the whole film. I'm not talking about the sweet stuff near the end, I just talking about all the scenes between the banner scenes. Plus the sequences are very forced at times (many you can see coming for miles), but this isn't too bad as they still manage to be hilariously gross! For those who like the nudity (and who didn't like the bi-sexual teasing scene from part 2?) there is a long sequence of strippers with large fake breasts, if that's your thing (I'm a man, so yes!) which is funny but also serves up the mandatory t&a. There are also some scenes that are TOO forced – eg the dance in the gay bar is funny but is too long and feels like a good idea with average delivery.

The film bravely loses something like half the cast and makes the film better in that regard. In fact Kevin has so little to do that they could have lost his character all together. However this is offset by the change to Stifler. In the first 2 he is obnoxious and rude but he is also the brunt of more jokes than he is the punisher. In the first half here, he is very rude and annoying and you hate him for how he treats his friends. That makes all his early antics hard to laugh at because now all you can see is a jerk hurting people. In the second half this is less of an issue as he changes a little and gets what's coming to him (and how!). I have a theory that Scott knows he has been pigeon holed in this role and is desperate to get out of it – in fact when I saw Bullet Proof Monk I did think to myself that he is just playing a kung-fu Stifler. Knowing this I think he played Stifler at full volume so that his next role would be nowhere near this performance. Thus he has a weird crazed sneer on his face, he is ultra cruel and rude and is a real jerk – hard to laugh with (but luckily still easy to laugh at).

The rest of the cast do quite well. Biggs manages to make more of his role than the victim and is sensitive when he needs to be – I think it will be hard for him to shake off Jim (pardon the pun) but he shows he can do acting when he needs to. Hannigan's innocent girlie voice is a little grating now and doesn't sit with her image as a woman – it suited her to be a geek. Luckily she doesn't have that much to do after the funny opening scene. Thomas is OK but Nicholas just kind of hangs around with a half smile of his face and nothing to do. Levy is still brillant as Jim's Dad but misses his `awkward moment' relationship (which they give him with Michelle to repeat it). Jones is eye candy and the return of Stifler's Mon (forget her name) is pointless and a mistake that is happily kept to a few moments.

Overall this is as poor a film as you expect – rude, in poor taste, lacking a strong plot or performances, but none of these things are really fair comments as the film still manages to be funny. The character of Stifler makes the first half very hard to enjoy and there are too many bits that don't work or where I didn't laugh but I still laughed. Many viewers will feel that the series has simply fizzled out despite it still being funny.

This was an awesome closure to the American pie series (with the original cast) Stifler is pretty good in this, he always steps it up. The cast kinda gets smaller and smaller as the series goes on, but we are left with the core of the group. Jim again has some great comedic moments, Jason Biggs by now has perfected the role of Jim. This as the second movie, plays it's part as a sequel, series or a trilogy. If you have seen the first two, this will be a good ending to the story for those who haven't seen the first two, or only part one, go out and get caught up before seeing this one. You missed a lot of the action. icing on the cake

9/10

American Wedding is exactly the type of ending that suits the American Pie trilogy. It's not like the typical TV sitcom where it's feel good and lacking on humor. The traditional gross out honest humor is still present. Unfortunately not all the characters are due to scheduling conflicts.

The directors do a good job of covering the absent characters by simply not mentioning them but there lack of presence is felt. Oz isn't present during Jim's speech with the best men. Michele is the only returning female lead. Even some of the returning characters play a smaller role. Kevin is almost not seen in most of the film. He serves very little important role and is more in the background. Finch and Stifler seem to be the lead story, at times more than the wedding itself. It does work to create a funny story.

The story is well wrapped up and that hopefully means that no additional and poorly conceived sequels are made. There seems to be three rules that follow in all of these films.

1) Jim does something bizarre sexual act that embarrasses him.

2) Stifler ingest some bodily excretion

3) Finch has sex with Stifler's Mom

Obviously they've hit Stifler with about every funny excretion. The only options left are blood, pus, or earwax. Rule #2 is going to be hard to follow.

This is the third installment in the life of Jim Levenstein and his friends. "American Wedding" seems to point out there will be follow up movies perhaps. Why not? This formula has produced three films and could "American Children", "American Divorce", "American Single Dad", etc. will be too far behind? Jesse Dylan directs this one.

The film is typical of the gross movie genre. The only excuse to watch this one is Seann William Scott, who as the obnoxious Steve Stifler, is at his nastiest self in the film. Stifler has great moments, such as in the sequence involving the rescue of the ring that one of the dogs has have swallowed! Jason Biggs, the groom of the film, seems to be playing second fiddle as Seann William Scott's part was made more important to his own, which in a way is what keeps the film alive because the nerdy Jim doesn't elicit much fun when he shows on screen. Eugene Levy, Fred Willard and Deborah Rush have good moments in the film.

Let's just hope the people behind these installments will see the light and put all these characters to rest and give us more of Mr. Scott in his own vehicles.

Although it was a bad movie, it was fun to watch.

I wouldn't recommend it, but I would also recommend it, if you want to have fun.