American Pie 2

How is it that "American Pie 2" falls victim to many of the problems which befall sequels and yet remains a hilarious film? The answer is in both the plot and the performances. While the plot is virtually a carbon copy of the first film's, that first film's plot was virtually a carbon copy of the plot of several other teen sex comedies. Its predictability only served to highlight the outstanding performances in "American Pie," which were what lifted that film out of the mass of indistinguishable teen sex romps to the status of a damn good comedy. And since the one problem "American Pie 2" does not have is a changed cast—everyone is back, and performing as well as they ever have—the new movie overcomes its various failings by making you laugh so hard that you simply do not care. Just like the first one.

As a matter of fact, this film's plot is actually centered around the characters' desires to repeat the first film's plot. Our gang has returned home to Grand Rapids after their first year in college, rented a beach house somewhere which is definitely not in Michigan, and set up party central there. Yet their thoughts are dominated by memories of their high school days. Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) still carries a torch for his old girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid). Oz (Chris Klein) and Heather (Mena Suvari) are still together, but separated by the Atlantic Ocean as she studies abroad for the summer.

More interestingly, Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) has had experiences in New York, but cannot recapture the magical, driven, passionate sex he had with his friend Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge). Stifler (Sean William Scott) divides his time between encouraging Finch not to recapture it and hitting on any random woman he can find. And Jim (Jason Biggs), he who screwed the titular baked good and prematurely ejaculated twice while attempting to have sex with the gorgeous foreign exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), during which he was unknowingly being broadcast via Webcam to the townspeople? What of him? Well, Nadia is coming to visit, and he is still unsure of his, um, abilities. He turns to his prom-night virginity taker, the band camp geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), for a few tips in a "Pygmalion"-esque plotline.

While there was still a basic patina of surprise in "American Pie," the sequel, following the original almost scene by scene, is completely without suspense of any kind. The impulse to play it safe and stick with what made money the first time is too strong here. There is even a carbon copy of the Webcast scene, and those who remember it will not be too impressed by the blatant borrowing. "American Pie 2" also changes directors, from Paul Weitz to J.B. Rogers, and loses by it; where Weitz was patient enough to wait that extra couple seconds to really turn the screws on a character's mortification, Rogers keeps bouncing blithely along, meaning that some of the undercurrent of pain which is essential to all good comedy is lost.

So the task of getting laughs falls to the performers, and they do the bang-up job that is needed to keep you laughing through it all. Eugene Levy as Jim's dad provides the necessary break from teenagers acting goofy with one of his inimitable renditions of an adult acting goofy; his painfully earnest lectures on sordid subjects almost top those of the first film. Scott is even more animated in his jerkiness than in the first film; his inclusion in the Webcam-mimickry scene, and the bug-eyed, simple-minded eagerness he brings to it, almost justifies it. Hannigan gets even more to do than in the first film, and handles it well, delivering a faux-breakup rant to Jim while extolling his sexual prowess for Nadia's benefit which is easily the funniest thing to come out of a teenage character's mouth in years.

And Biggs retains his status as the greatest physical comedian ever confined to basically idiotic teen films. Even with Rogers not letting him show everything he can do, he still manages to get everything he can out of his jerky, furniture-destroying imitation of Finch's Tantric meditations. It's almost worth the price of admission simply to watch Biggs try to shake loose a pornographic video which he has superglued to his hand, his face contorted with embarrassment, frustration, agony and a sense of his own absurdity. And in an instant classic, he maneuvers his way into the role of a retarded trombone soloist at Michelle's band camp, and his hilarious incompetence enlivens both the crowd and the audience.

"American Pie 2" is in no way as good as its predecessor; it lacks tension, atmosphere, and a certain tenderness, and its obvious aping of the original is almost nervy in its shamelessness. But ultimately, you go to see films like this to see the pie-[expletive]ing guy and the band camp girl and that semen-drinking dude, and you will see them, and their performances are dynamite. It's enough to make you happy that, as happens in many sequels, the filmmakers basically announce their intention to make a third film towards the end. Let's hope it has the same actors as the first two, because that will determine everything about how sweet the "Pie" tastes.

THAT AIN'T MICHIGAN

Look, I know the beaches in Michigan. I have been to beaches in Michigan. And those ain't no Michigan beaches that those kids are cavorting on. Those beaches are so full of perfect-looking, plastic-enhanced women that they could only be in one place: L.A. There ain't no mess of awesome-looking women with charm and camaraderie to spare running around on Michigan beaches. At least, I think not. Maybe they heard I was coming and ducked out.

APOLOGY (Delivered six days after the review was delivered)

I apologize for the length of the "American Pie 2" review. It should not have been 900 words long in any way, shape or form. It should have been about 600. The problem is that I got done writing it at about 12 am and I had to get up at 5:30 am the next day. "Do I really want to rewrite this?" I asked myself. "Or do I want to get some paltry amount of sleep?" You saw how I answered that one. When I'm back in school and running on college-student time, this will no longer be a problem.

The basic problem with the above review is that it spends too much time going through everything that happens in the film. I had not yet developed a quick, easy mental filter for sorting reviewable wheat from marginal chaff. I got one later. Sometimes, in going over these, I am rather impressed with myself; sometimes I realize how much I had to learn and still have to learn.

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