American Wedding (*** 1/2):
Well, here I go reviewing Stif--, I mean Jim and Michelle's movie. Okay, forget it, let's face it...this movie is Stifler's movie. He IS one of the main stars, and mostly all of the comedy comes from him. This movie would've needed some serious work if Seann William Scott had said no to this movie; in fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this movie wouldn't have been MADE if there wouldn't have been a Stifler. Anyway, now that that is out of the way, let's get to the main point of the review...
This movie provided some comic set pieces that led me to laugh the hardest I've laughed in any movie this year. The opening (Jim proposing to Michelle...thankfully the trailer didn't give away too much with this scene) in this movie is probably the funniest of the three, to me at least. Actually, I also think that this is the best of the three American Pie movies. In several ways, having Stifler become the main star really helped the comedy in this film. At first, before Stifler was introduced, I had a feeling that this was going to be the weakest of the three, since, even though the beginning gave me quite a few laughs, it was moving a bit slow. Jim and Michelle are planning their marriage, and the last person they want to be there is Stifler, since they think he will ruin everything. Then suddenly, Stifler arrives, pissed off that Jim's having a party that he wasn't invited to (he thinks it's a graduation party). After this, the movie really picks up, and doesn't slow down until the end credits roll.
Once Stifler gets there, things begin to go downhill for Jim and Michelle. Stifler is noticeably more of a jackass, and he cusses in just about every sentence. He sort of reminded me of a sober Colin Farrell...lol. Jim and Michelle are worried about him being there, and are trying to prevent him from finding out about the wedding. Naturally he finds out, and joins in with all the festivities. This movie has plenty of good jokes, and had so much laugh out loud humor that some of the dialogue in the movie couldn't be heard because the audience was laughing so hard...The filmmakers have also pushed the bar on gross-out humor, and I never thought they could include scenes like the ones they did (one involving Stifler and a dog...not the scene in the trailer! A note, you may not want to be eating anything in this scene...it's pretty damn gross.) *MILD SPOILER* (scroll over the text to reveal it, if you want.) I will NEVER look at chocolate in the same way again!! *END MILD SPOILER*
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the wedding turns out fine, but what leads up to it is extremely funny. The bachelor party was a well done sequence, also providing the guys with some nice nudity. The extended scene itself (about 10 or 15 minutes long) was quite funny as a whole, and one of the many great comedic set pieces. Once again, Stifler is pretty funny in this scene. Seeing him and Finch switch personalities was VERY funny, and the nice cameo by Stifler's mom was pretty cool. Hell, Stifler even redeems himself after putting everyone through all that shite and being a jackass. How he does it, I'll let you see for yourself, but I thought it added a bit more depth to the well-developed character of Steven Stifler. One tiny thing I can't help but addressing, though: Why weren't any of the people in the previous films mentioned (Oz, Vicki, and Heather, to name a few) at all in the film? The only person who gets a nod is Nadia, and she's brought up in a sentence, but dropped a few lines after that. I suppose it could be compared to Austin Powers in Goldmember, where Felicity Shagwell was nowhere to be found. Overall, that's the only gripe I have with the movie, and it does stop it from getting the coveted 4 stars. It was a fun ride, seeing these characters go from high school, to college, to marriage. If there is a sequel, which has of course been talked about, who knows what it will be like? American Parents?...lol. I have to give the screenwriter credit for keeping these last 2 American Pie movies from just being a rehash of the first one. If this is the final movie, it was great, and a worthy, hilarious conclusion to an exceptional trilogy.
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