American Pie (1999) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 1999
Director: Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz
Cast: Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Seann William Scott, Shannon Elizabeth, Alyson Hannigan, Eugene Levy
Rating: R
Release Date: 9 July 1999
Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes 24 seconds

The Movie Review

American Pie film still 1

An American and a pie. An American Pie


AMERICAN PIE
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Sigh...How time flies by... :-]

I could still remember quite vividly, the day I watched American Pie with my buddies. It was a sunny afternoon when my friends decided to go to the cinema to watch any random movie, you know, just to kill time. I actually also didn't have any plan that day, so I was merely hanging out with them and just nodded along with whatever movie they were going to pick, aside that I wasn't too picky about movies. And man, it was a great afternoon, for we had fun and laughed with the rest of the audience inside that movie theater watching American Pie. And coming out of the building, we just keep on talking about that movie. It was a great day and American Pie is a great movie.

After the release of American Pie, there have been numerous movies sharing similar theme being spawned throughout the globe, many became great and many became merely wannabes. However American Pie's strongest suit is the storyline and the chemistry among the actors. It is simple but effective, far from intricacy but hilarious. Of course it is not the funniest movie ever, taste is not something to be contested, but this movie here (along with South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut) is the perfect souvenir from the comedy world in the dusk of the 20th century.

American Pie revolves around 4 guys who make a pact of losing their virginities before the Prom Night ends. Introducing the clumsy Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) who while masturbating is caught red-handed by his parents and having a hard time to make a move on the hot Czech student named Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth). The suave Casanova-only-in-his-mind, Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher (Chris Klein) who tries to seduce a college girl but ends embarrassingly. The aristocratic Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) who later seems to be interested in mature woman (his friend's mother). The leader who proposes to make that pact in the first place, Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) who is relatively normal compared to others, because Kevin has a girlfriend, the rather-uptight Victoria 'Vicky' Lathum (Tara Reid). And last but not least the ever-famous (because for personal reason that the character's name could not get off my head), Steven--Stiffmeister--Stifler (Seann William Scott), the jerk, the a-hole, the Partyholder, the Partygoer, and also the Partypooper of the group. He considers himself as an A-1 womanizer.

And if you are wondering is there any nudity in this great raunchy comedy movie? oh yes there is. But not the one where the filmmakers desperately put as many nude girls as they can. The scene is a nice and slow one, it is one of those nude scenes that deserve acclamation, it won't shock your eyes. It will tease you slowly, gradually titillating you. Simply put, the scene is the one that lingers in mind even after years have passed by. And what will happen next between Jim and Nadia....Oh yes, drop dead hilarious! I literally almost choked my coffee viewing this scene :-D If you could get this scene out of your head, then you got some pretty serious memory problem guys. Seriously the scene where Nadia and Jim's act of seduction is being broadcasted through the internet is genuinely uproarious!

I just could not stop imagining all the other hilarious scenes in the movie, and what makes all of those positive aspects even great is that all the characters do have strong personalities and there is this warm touching chemistry among them. From our main man Jim who experiences one bad luck after another, his ever-cool dad (played by Eugene Levy) that gives Jim awkward sexual advice, Michelle Flaherty (a band geek played by Allyson Hannigan) who likes to repeat her own sentence over and over (one superb line of "This one time, at band camp"), Stiffmesiter the stiff a-hole who mocks and laughs at everything. The characters are there and we as the audience will root for them. The five main actresses who grace the screen also have good chemistry with the lead actors. Tara Reid, Jennifer Collidge, Allyson Hannigan, Mena Suvari, Natasha Lyonne and the smokin' hot Shannon Elizabeth are given the perfect script to make them more than just eye candies.

And what brings the mood? The songs of course. I personally very much enjoy listening to the songs from bands such as Shades Apart, Barenaked Ladies, Third Eye Blind, and lovely Asian girl Bic Runga. The songs come in the perfect minute. Finally of course, the main thing that the audiences look from a comedy, the Humor. This is what makes American Pie such memorable film. Yes some of the jokes are gross, like drinking the men's "white fluid", the poopy problem, the hole on the pie, but those are just a few from what the script has to offer. The filmmakers really comprehend the term "Comedy", they could see the funny points from a scene and how to shoot it to perfection (in term of Comedy of course).

American Pie certainly deserves a watch from any moviegoers and if you already collect Porky's Trilogy or National Lampoon's Animal House, you should also snatch this movie fast. Like I said before it's a great souvenir from year 1999, and it will be remembered for a long time.