American Pie 2





Just as wild and funny as the original. A

A


I actually consider American Pie 2 not only to be the funniest movie of the franchise, by far, but also one of the most hilarious comedies I have seen in my entire life. It improved on the original quite a bit and solidified Seann William Scott's Stifler as one of the coolest cult film characters of all time. The fact that it was also an especially great theatre experience (I saw it at its German premiere in Cologne with a 700+ people sold-out audience...on Sept 11th 2001, heh) certainly contributed, but it held up on multiple viewings. Seriously, comedy can't really get more hilarious than this! The whole scene with the supposed "lesbians" had me on the floor, seriously.


Great great fun.

A

Funniest and best of the 3. Finch's tantric phase had me in stitches the whole way through.

Easily the worst of the series!

Don't know what happened to the creative team on this one, because #1 and #3 are all-time low comedy classics!

2 out of 5.

B-

Easily the weakest, plotless and most irrelevant of the three, but it's still pretty funny.

Wow, you have two people in a row calling in the best of the series and raving about it, and then you have two people in a row calling it the worst in the series. What do I do?

Yes, I haven't actually seen American Pie 2. Sue me. I have seen the first and the third, however. Just never got around to seeing the second one. Weird, I know. Anyways, I love the first one. Freakin' hilarious. One of the best comedies I have seen in terms of measurement of laughter (i.e. I was laughing a LOT).

PEACE, Mike.

If you liked the first so much, you definitely should give the second a try whenever you get a chance to!

Yes, I second that - it would be interesting to hear your opinion...

That'd be because the second is exactly like the first. It does everything in its power to make sure every frickin' person who had a line in the first flick has a line in the second, and it's redundant.

Indeed. Only that it's funnier (IMO).

Yep. I much prefer that over the alternative, which American Wedding had. They missed out on half the characters, changed Kevin from lead to background, and turned the tone from adolescant/college into where everyone was now adults. AW was still really funny, but it didn't feel like it was from the same series at all. I actually think AP: Band Camp tied into more of the American Pie mold than AW.

BJs Grade:

B+

100% totaly Fun watch.

Pretty much the exact same movie as the first one. It's just as funny, but it loses some points for being completely unoriginal. And for having a much weaker story.

B-

No charme, no fun, all gross-out humor. I didn't laugh a single time. F

Not the best of the Franchise, but IMO it was the funniest

A-

Hmm...when I saw it in 2001, I was very disappointed and give it around a C+ (but loved the other two movies)

However, recently I saw all three movies again and now I like American Pie 2 the best.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***


***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** There are two genres that have had a healthy recrudescence in the last two or three years. One being the horror genre due in large part to Scream and the other is the teen comedy and that is due in large part to the overwhelming success of American Pie in the summer of 99. This revival has inspired mostly inferior films like Tomcats and Whatever It Takes but it has also given us some gut-busters like Road Trip. But nothing has come close to understanding the sheer audacity and gutsy bravado that American Pie demonstrated. I can think back to another time in the early 80's when films were trying desperately to imitate Porky's and Fasttimes at Ridgemont High. There were a few good ones like Wild Life and Mischief but more often than not you got a sad film like Hot Dog and we had to wait until Porky's 2 was launched before we laughed hoarsely again. Well here we are some 20 years later and this comedic revival of the teen genre is now in full bloom. American Pie was damn funny, American Pie 2 is damn funnier and it pushes the envelope in the area of raunchiness. There are films that don't know what to do with their raunchy scenes and they are played strictly to gross you out. But not American Pie 2. Every scene that disgusts you, every scene that makes you cringe in guilt is done so with a punch line waiting for you at the end. The creators of American Pie 2 have outdone themselves and they have created one of the funniest films I have seen in quite a long time.

Spoilers ahead!!

AP2 begins on the last day of classes for our four friends in college. Kevin, Stifler and Oz are all at Michigan State ( I think) and Jim is somewhere else. Finch has travelled abroad so we don't get to see him until they meat up at Dog Years about ten minutes into the film. Jim is still trying to learn to relax when it comes to sex, Finch is now a master at sex, Oz is still with Heather and Kevin is not with anybody. After Stifler's party gets busted, the boys, after Kevin calls his brother, decide to rent a cottage on Lake Michigan. Stifler is invited because they would not be able to afford the place on their own. The rest of the movie is basically about the boys trying to get laid and the difficulties and hilarity that ensues.

One of the things that makes AP2 so successful is that almost every character that had a speaking role in the first movie is back for more in the second. And not only are they nice to see for familiarity sake, each one has a funny line or a few funny scenes to keep us laughing. We all know the major ones that return but also back for more laughs is Sherman, or as he likes to call himself, the Sherminator. Then there is also the two guys that were drunk in the first one and kissed Stifler's mom's picture, and then called her a MILF. Stifler's little brother makes his return and utters his famous line "F*****s, F*****s, F*****s!", which got a good laugh from the audience. Also the monkey and the Internet boys make a brief cameo. This was smart bringing back these minor characters because when I told some of my cronies at work that most of the major characters were back, they asked me if that included Sherman and the MILF guys. People remember AP1 really well and it is the smaller roles as well as the starring ones that made it so funny.

But besides these smaller more quaint details, what makes AP2 so good is the story and the progression or regression of characters. Stifler stays the same but the others have differed in some ways.

Finch is still obsessed with Stifler's mom and he is now learning the art of Tantra so he can channel his sexual being even more than he did at the conclusion of first one. Of course him and Stifler have some memorable bantering about his mother and this is just another areas that plays out well for laughs.

Oz and Heather have to communicate through the phone for the summer as she is spending it abroad in Paris so they try risque things like phone sex, to no avail. Everything from Stifler to call waiting interrupt their time together.

Kevin is still hooked on Vicky and Jim is still trying to get laid. Michelle and Nadia, Jim's girls from the first also make some memorable appearances with Michelle stealing most of her scenes, regardless of who she shares them with. Jessica and of course Mr. Levinstein (Jim's dad) round out the cast of AP1 veterans.

Adam Herz has written one of the funniest films I have seen. Not only does he build off AP1's humour, but he creates new situations and some you see

will probably shock you. We have seen a few of these in the trailer, but believe me when I say that you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the payoff. Stifler is by far the funniest character and he delivers some of the best one liners. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Stifler reminds me of a cross between Jeff Spicolli and Walter Gibson ( John Cusack's character from The Sure Thing). As crude as he is, and he is, there is also a vulnerable side to him that just peaks it's head out. And finally, not only does he get the girl in this one, he ends up scoring what is considered to be the Holy Grail amongst guys and their campfire and beer stories.

There is enough humour and story to go around in here easily for another AP. I would like to see that but at the same time, they have laid it on pretty thick for this film and to try to out do this one may result in a situation similar to Porky's 3. Maybe they can churn out another but if they left it at this, then I would be more than happy. It's always good to go out on a winning note. And there are an abundance of franchises that went one step too far and blew it, that should be fair warning to the makers of AP. Jaws, Rocky, Porky's, Superman and Friday the 13th, all had winning franchises on their hands before they went out and insulted us with insipid and dull efforts like Jaws 4, Friday 7-9, Rocky 5 and Superman 3 and 4. Let's just hope that if there is an AP3, they take their time and write another film with this much panache and humour. As it stands, this is the best film I have seen so far this summer and probably this year. I could continue this review for a few more paragraphs and mention some of the funnier parts of the film, but that should be left to your imagination. Hearing too much about the film would ruin many of the surprises the film has to offer.

9.5 out of 10- If you liked this first, you'll love this one. Watch out for cascading champagne scene, the lesbian scene and anything involving Michelle or Finch. The accolades are endless so I'll stop here. Just see this movie!!

While it isn't better than the original, I never anticipated it to be. This is a worthy sequel to the classic first film and it's just as funny. I love Jim and Michelle's relationship in this one.

A

None of these films are actually funny. They're just pleasant to watch. B