Well as I’m on a role with movie op’s (ok, ok, so I’ve written one lately!) I thought I’d write another one before I get another bout of writers block.
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WHY AMERICAN PIE?
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Well I always wondered why they called this film “American Pie” (that was until the one specific scene in the film that explains it all!). Apparently though the film was initially going to be called <take a deep breath> “Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy Which Can Be Made For Under $10 Million Which Studio Readers Will Most Likely Hate But I Think You Will Love”.
<breath out before you go a funny shade of blue, fetching as it may be, it won’t do you much good!>
So that name is catchy isn’t it? Lets just be thankful they ditched that for American Pie!
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PREMISE
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Basically it revolves are 4 school boys who all happen to be virgins. They all promise each other to lose their virginity before graduating from high school.
That’s
about it really. It sounds really simple and it is. Its simplicity adds to the film greatly.
The characters each acted brilliantly to portray their frustration (and humiliation most of the time!). Humiliation plays a huge part in this film (just like in real life huh!) and adds to the many comedy scenes. Most of the humiliation scenes (mainly involving Jim and his dad) make you cringe at the thought of that happening to yourself. Its still really amusing though to watch it happen to someone else (despite the fact that they’re only acting!). It really puts all of the things I wrote about in my most embarrassing moments opinion into perspective!
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SARAH_LOUISES VIEW
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I can honestly say that this is possibly one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. It would definitely make it onto my top 5 most hilarious films of all time, there’s no doubt about that.
I’d give this film the following ratings:
Comedy moments (so that’s most of the film then!): 5/5
Humiliation moments (so that’s most of the film too then!): 5/5
Serious moments: 0/5
Ok, so 2 out of 3 aint bad!
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GOOD POINTS
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· If I had to describe this film in a word it’d have to be crude. This sounds like a strange thing to put into my good points category but it honestly is great in this film. Sure, the jokes are all predictable, but this film really is hilarious (it would definitely make it onto the top 5 most hilarious films of all time in my book).
· The casting was great – despite the fact that none of the cast is well known (or at least I don’t recall seeing them in anything else before) they all click on screen. You can easily feel the humiliation oozing out of your TV screen when you watch this film!
· The dialogue is real enough to make you feel the humiliating moments (like the point above).
· The Jim and his dad scenes make the film, they really do. You could probably base the entire film around Jim and his dad and it would still be just as good.
· The characters are completely believable (which is unusual in comedies when you think about it).
· Despite being completely about a pursuit of sex, this film isn’t offensive (or I never found it to be).
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BAD POINTS
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· The film has an entirely male perspective on the world of virginity, I wasn’t sure whether this was a good or a bad point to be honest because I think that a comedy like this needs a fairly one sided viewpoint to work as well as it did in this film. I decided I’d put it in the bad points section in an attempt to even up the odds against the good points (I get the distinct feeling it wont help much though!)
· There are some vulgar scenes (but then that really belongs under the good points come to think of it!)
· I didn’t think putting two bad points in would even out the odds because I really can’t think of any more bad points!
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FURTHER INFORMATION
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Cast: Jason Biggs (Jim), Chris Klein (Oz), Eddie Kaye Thomas (Finch), Seann William Scott (Stifler), Thomas Ian Nicholas (Kevin), Tara Reid (Kevin's girlfriend, Vicky), Natasha Lyonne (Jessica), Alyson Hannigan (Michelle), Eugene Levy (Jim's Dad), Mena Suvari (Heather), Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's Mom), Chris Owen (Sherman), James DeBello, Shannon Elizabeth (Nadia), Eli Marienthal (Stifler's little brother),
Genre: Comedy
Running length: 1 hr 35 minutes.
Rating: 15
Guest stars: Blink 182
Director: Paul Weitz
Screenwriter: Adam Herz
Music: The soundtrack to this film includes songs by Tonic, Third Eye Blind, Blink 182, Dishwalla, Sugar Ray, The Atomic Fireballs, Goldfinger, to name just a few.
Distributor: Universal Pictures
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WEBSITES
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http://www.americanpiemovie.com/
http://www.americanpievideo.com/
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WANT YOUR OWN COPY?
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A DVD copy will set you back £9.99 from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004R7ES/ref=sr_aps_dvd_1_3/026-7840526-7374017
A video copy will set you back £13.49:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005QB80/ref=sr_aps_vhs_1_2/026-7840526-7374017
![American Pie [DVD] [1999]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78548309.jpg)
![American Pie (Ultimate Edition) [1999] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78519312.jpg)
![American Pie Presents The Naked Mile [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78215685.jpg)
07.12.2004 15:11
Great review send me more when you do them.. Cheers
28.03.2004 21:14
good op, good film. American pie refers to american life - this is about american teenage life.. that's why they called it that, the pie scene came because of the title
13.11.2002 23:27
Good opinion, seen this film a few times now and still really enjoy it. Andy.