American Pie: O Casamento

It was lacking some ingrediants, or cast members, but only an AMERICAN PIE movie could make good of that issue.Its had a great soundtrack, like the others It is hard to say which AMERICAN PIE installment is the best cause there all just one outrageous saga. This is a great (supposed) finish to the AMERICAN PIE series. Id say AMERICAN WEDDING had more laughs that both its predeccesors, even though i never thought that would be possible. It also was a little sweeter. Id consider it more of a Wedding cake. if you liked the first one and second, or at least one of those two, u like this one equally or better. AMERICAN WEDDING delivers a super slice of guilty, raunchy pleasure. You laugh and laugh, and still laugh even the 20th time u watch it...

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

There's one thing you have to say for `American Wedding': like the two `American Pie' films that came before it, it is unapologetically unashamed of its shamelessness. Here's a film that doesn't try to hide its gleeful perverseness under a bushel of coy double entendres; instead the film revels in its frank and openhearted treatment of sexuality and lust. `American Wedding' is clearly a comedy about sex and it doesn't pretend to be anything but. Whether this is a good thing or a bad will, I suppose, depend on your own affinity and tolerance for jokes and images that routinely push the boundaries of common decency and good taste. In fact, the film wears its tastelessness almost as a badge of honor. And just in case you're unfamiliar with this series and its brand of humor, subtlety and wit are not considered virtues in an `American Pie' world.

In `American Wedding,' Jim and Michelle - he a self-described pervert and she a self-described nympho - have finally agreed to tie the knot. The film centers around Jim's attempts to convince Michelle's square, uptight, sexually repressed parents that he is indeed husband material for their less-than-innocent daughter. The problem is that his efforts are consistently being undermined by the inane, out-of-control antics of Steve Stifler, the foulest-mouthed, dirtiest-minded professional adolescent this side of Bluto Blutarsky. Seann William Scott, in fact, steals the show as Stifler, providing an over-the-top manic energy that is both endearing and infectious.

Indeed, without Stifler, there would be precious little to recommend this particular `American' outing. The jokes and setups, for the most part, are crude and graphic without being very imaginative, and writer Adam Herz and director Jesse Dylan, even when they hit on an inspired piece of silliness (as when Stiffler winds up dancing mano a mano with a guy in a gay bar), end up diluting the humor by letting the scenes drag on well past the point where they're truly funny anymore. This is not to say that there aren't a few good laughs in `American Wedding,' just that they don't come often enough to really lift the film much above the ordinary. Luckily, the funny moments increase a bit in the final stretches of the movie. In the film's defense, I would also add that, like its two predecessors and unlike many sexually charged teen comedies, `American Wedding' conveys a certain affection for its characters. In addition to Stifler, Jason Biggs as Jim and Eugene Levy as Jim's befuddled but strangely tolerant and supportive father come across as decent, well-meaning and likable individuals.

The film itself may be uneven, but as a character actor who makes an indelible impression on the material at hand, Scott is the genuine article. He transforms what is essentially cinematic rotgut into sweet-tasting vintage wine. All hail the Stifman!

The gangs back together, and now there having to cope with life after college (sadly Oz, Heather, Nadia, Jessica and Vicki have all moved on, oh! and the shermanator 'but He'll Be Back! in Band Camp; but that's another story) So with a new environment and only half the original cast, how does the third in the series shape up? I'm glad to say that it still carry's on the Pie tradition, Jim still finds himself in the most embarrassing of situations, Stiffler's still hell bent on one thing and Jim's dad is still offering his own unique brand of advice to anyone who'll listen.

Overall the gags are lacking the freshness they once had, but with some new characters and some great comedy scenes the American Pie hasn't quite crumbled yet.

7/10