|
|
|
1999 saw a film slip under the radar to become one of the biggest hits that year mainly due to a scene involving a new way to see if Mom's homemade apple pie was too hot to eat. Now, this unusual slice of young life gets a third serving, but will we want to swallow it this time round ? |
|
What's the Plot? Maturity comes to all, even the
likes of Jim (Jason Biggs). Crazy glue and porn videos; third base and homemade apple pie; unusual
flute lessons at bandcamp; all these are behind him now as he gets ready to
embark on his greatest challenge: full term commitment ! Having dated
Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) for 3 years, Jim finally asks her to marry him to
which her response is yes. Now, all Jim has to do is to make sure that his wife-to-be
gets the wedding day that she's always dreamed of. Which may prove alittle
hard bearing in mind who he has to rely on: his Dad (Eugene Levy) who
still gives out too much information whilst trying to help; the over-intelligent Finch
(Eddie Kaye Thomas) and once sex-guru Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas)
and of course Stifler (Sean William Scott) - the guy with no redeemable qualities
discovered so far ! With Michelle's beautiful sister, Cadence (January Jones), arriving to help out, both
Finch and Stifler renew battle stances as they both try new and scary tactics to win her
over while Jim desperately tries to impress Michelle's "stuffy" parents (Fred Willard and
Deborah Rush) to get their
blessing. Being Jim and having the likes Stifler around, this is going to no easy
|
The Review Comedies. Probably still one of the hardest genres to do and to do well. The first slice of Pie had a lot going for it because it had a lot to give. The 5 guys all had different approaches to try and score which allowed a varied diet of jokes, situations and mishaps. The second slice shifted emphasis onto the favourite characters, leaving the rest of the cast treading water upon the screen, and this last installment has actually lost some of the original cast and further placed the spotlight onto a smaller band of people.
And that's where the charm that existed amongst the sex and body fluid gags finally disappeared. Despite it being about the wedding of Biggs' goofy-but-loveable Jim and Hannigan's dizzy-but-nymphie Michelle, a hell of a lot of screen time is devoted to the rude, crude and over-foul-mouthed (and frankly OTT sometimes !) rantings of William Scott's Stifler. His character even gets a "transformation" plotline running through the film where he eventually tries to make up for all the hassle he causes to the wedding preparations. His "wooing" battle with the pitifully under-used Finch, comes across as a poor attempt at Jim Carrey's turn of The Cable Guy where a nice personality tried to hide the nasty one. |
However, the two biggest shocks are how little the first film's scene stealers are left on the side lines. Levy, who's character STILL doesn't have a name - just Jim's Dad - gets to do his legendary "words of advise" sketch only once, and the sexy shocker that is "this one time, at band camp.." Michelle, is left out of the entire picture except to just pose as the girl who has always wanted a perfect wedding and gets to try and shock the audience this time by saying "boning." If this hadn't have been an end to a franchise, it could have worked reasonably well, but this is a sad way to go out for characters that rightly stole our hearts first time round. Forget this desert and order take out instead.
STEVE'S SCORE
|
||
|
|
||||
Copyright © Steve Murphy 2003
