American Wedding

Jim and his friends are back, and no baked food is safe. Read our full review to see what the American Pie folks have cooked up for you this third time around.

It's hard to keep shocking people. The biggest problem facing American Wedding is that we already have a good idea of what to expect. Jim (Jason Biggs) is going to do something excruciatingly embarrassing. Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) is going to be understanding to the point of disbelief. Jim's honey Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) is going to want to do something really dirty.

And Stifler (Seann William Scott) is going to be Stifler. Fortunately for everyone involved, American Wedding's likeable cast pulls off the expected shenanigans in ways that keep us grinning, giggling, and laughing out loud just like audiences did for the original.

The strength of this franchise has always been its cast. Biggs anchors the movie as bumbling but sincere everyman Jim, the hapless hero with nothing but good intentions for whom everything always goes awry. The plot that strings all the gags together centers on Jim's upcoming wedding to the lovely Michelle, starting with a marriage proposal that naturally goes horribly wrong while kicking the film off to a hilarious start.

The movie, however, really belongs to Scott. Scott owns every scene he's in, as the energy of both Stifler and his capable portrayer completely overwhelms anyone who happens to be in the same frame. Towards the beginning of the film, when Stifler is nothing more than a shrill harpy uttering a stream of obscenities, Scott's on-screen dominance is actually a handicap. However, as the character melds with the core friends, Stifler becomes more the instigator of the comedy rather than a punch line in and of himself, and it is in these scenes that the movie shines.

Speaking of human punchlines, Hannigan does an admirable job of transforming naughty band camp girl Michelle from a bundle of sexual energy to a bundle of sexual energy that wants a really nice wedding in addition to really kinky sex. Levy is as fantastic as always, taking the catastrophes that make up his on-screen son's life in stride and dispensing the sort of wisdom that you never want to hear from your parents.

Of all the parents in the film, only Levy and Biggs manage to make us feel like there is an actual relationship between the two of them. Fred Willard is particularly wasted as Michelle's father, playing the put upon straight man to the lunacy that surrounds his future son-in-law's very being. Neither of the mothers of the happy couple (Molly Cheek as Jim's mother and Deborah Rush as Michelle's) fares any better.

Sure, along the way the American Pie franchise has lost a few of its cast, but you won't miss them one bit. There is not a single scene that feels poorer for not having any of the previous cast members in it. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) to be in this movie, unless it's to prove that Jim has enough friends for a bridal party.

Then again, it's not like screenwriter Adam Herz even bothered naming Michelle's bridesmaids, aside from her pulled-out-of-thin-air sister (newcomer January Jones). Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) does manage to nab a piece of a subplot, but it revolves mostly around aping Scott.

Fans of the previous two films in the series won't be disappointed in this outing. American Wedding keeps to its proven formula- raunchy sex gags mixed with cringe inducing gross out scenes, tossed at the audience simultaneously whenever possible. Director Jesse Dylan does a competent job of letting the characters drive the movie.

This film certainly won't win any awards, but it will be watched over and over and over again. Probably in slow motion. For all of Stifer's flaws, and there are many, he really is the guy you want planning your bachelor party.

Rico Rodriguez
Film Critic, Kikizo Movies