Review of American Wedding

Movie #16 - American Wedding

Such a good addition to the American Pie series. It stays true to the humor of the first two films without using the same jokes as the first two films. I think, overall, they reference past events three or four times - but they create a new joke and situation out of it. I don't own American Reunion yet, but I've seen it, and they really flopped with that one. They rely too much on old jokes, and it ends up not being funny at all. American Wedding, on the other hand, IS funny. This film revolves around Jim and Michelle's wedding, but oddly enough, focuses a lot on Steve Stifler. Stifler is at his best this time around. He has not grown up at all, while the other guys have. He's coaching football at his old high school, which is funny, because I don't think Stifler played football in high school...he played lacrosse...so why he would be coaching football is beyond me. Anyway, so Stifler finds out that Jim and Michelle are getting married and that he is not invited to the wedding. This causes him to force his way into the wedding plans by acting nice and kissing up to Michelle's parents. Hilarious antics ensue as the film goes on, including Stiffler feeding the ring to a dog and having to fish it out of its bowel movement...then eating it. Stifler is known for messing with Jim, but he usually doesn't completely ruin Jim's life. This time, he very nearly ruins the entire wedding. The one twist that is added though is that Stifler saves the day. He stops being a jerk for a whole five minutes and fixes the mess he got himself into. It shows a side of him that is never seen in any of the films, and it's nice, but you want it to stop almost immediately. Stifler's not supposed to have morals, so don't give him any, please. I shake my head in disapproval at this change in personality, but before I'm even done shaking back and forth, he's right back on track as the real Stifler, and I'm satisfied. He finds himself in a closet with Jim's grandma, thinking it's Michelle's sister, when Kevin and Finch open the door and reveal his gross error. Hilarious.

It doesn't take a huge American Pie fan to notice that one of the guys is missing in this film - Oz. I have no idea why, but Chris Klein is not in this film. In my review of American Pie 2, I made fun of him for having a worthless career, but while watching American Wedding, I found myself not really caring that he wasn't in the scenes. Kevin and Finch held their own perfectly fine. I feel like if Oz WAS in the film, he would be dragged into Stifler's antics, and it wouldn't be as funny because Oz would get all serious on Stifler and ruin the mood. So I take back my attack on Chris Klein. Thank you for not doing this film. It allowed the actors to not be overshadowed by your boring voice and weird-shaped head. Thank you.

Overall, kudos to Seann William Scott for being the infamous Steve Stifler. Even though the movie wasn't 100% awesomely funny the entire time, he made it worth watching.

I give American Wedding 3 out of 5 stars.