American Wedding, more like American Shit

[Easy Mac]

Note: This thread will not apply to about the 80% of the board who is over the age of 30.

Just got back from a screening of this movie, and the best I can say about it is it licked balls. And not in the good "your girlfriend getting frisky" way. No, this movie licked balls in the "deliverance, you licking a pig" way.

First, they absolutely ruined the best thing about the first 2 movies. Stifler was the main reason to watch the first 2 movies. Here, they made him a complete fucking caricature. A complete waste of a perfectly good character. I don't want to give anything away to people, but when he was just being Stifler, S.W. Scott was great. Its when they tried to do more than "asshole Stifler" that the writers or whoever completely fucked up. Don't change one of the greatest assholes ever. Is it sad that Scott may have peaked in his American Pie 2, Dude Where's My Car, Road Trip run (and he was great in Road Trip, I will never debate that)?

2. I think Kevin had maybe 3 lines in the film... not really a bad thing, but dammit, don't just put the guy in there to be there (It sad he peaked in Rookie of the year?).

3. They didn't nearly play the Jim's dad card nearly enough. Whenever things slowed down in the first 2, they could always go to Eugene Levy for laughs. Here, he was completely wasted with shit lines.

It was just horrible to have to sit through. Sure, it had its funny moments, but I found myself laughing more because I felt I just needed to laugh because this was American Pie. The movie never had those good moments like the first 2.

And at least explain why Oz and the 3 girls aren't there. Sure, kids grow apart during college, but dammit, you can't get rid of integral (debatable, but still) members of the series with absolutely nothing.

That being said, Allyson Hannigan was fucking gorgeous. I always thought she was cute in a quirky way, but damn, she changed into like a 10 overnight. The girl who played her sister, damn! The strippers had nice breasts, but that scene was just pants. Fred Willard was great in his limited role. When given something to work with, the cast was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, that didn't happen enough.

I feel sorry for anyone who has to pay to watch this (which I'll have to on Sunday b/c my girlfriend wants to see it). If she didn't want to go, no way I'd pay to ever see this again. I'm just thankful I got to see it for free with 10 free pizzas, a beer, and cute girls sitting next to me and behind me.

God they ruined this series. The writers should rot in hell for that.

2.0 out of 10, and only b/c the girls were hot.

[sony]

Gaaawww - You sound very upset Easy Mac -

I wasn't planning on watching this anyway. I just didn't buy into the movie from watching the previews.

Thanks for the heads up anyways.

[vex]

Originally posted by sony
Gaaawww - You sound very upset Easy Mac -

I wasn't planning on watching this anyway. I just didn't buy into the movie from watching the previews.

Thanks for the heads up anyways.



I agree, the movie didn't even seem worth watching from seeing the previews, but now I know for sure, thanks.

[Easy Mac]

I looked at it like this going in:

sometimes you just need a dumb, nice little diversion away from the "big" movies. The first 2 of the series did that. They weren't intellectually challenging, just dumb and fun. So they make a 3rd one with the best part of the cast in tack, and you're excite. Then its completely ruined. And you're left wondering how the hell they could fuck it up this badly.

[Easy Mac]

dola, that being said, I loved Matrix 2.

Though if you think about it, if I loved Matrix 2, and someone hated it, that means they'd have to hate AP3 even worse, right?

[Ksyrup]

Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, the overweight lesbian twit from Best In Show...

What was this, a half-hearted attempt at re-assembling the cast of a Christopher Guest movie, sandwiched with a teen flick?

[MJ4H]

Ive always been puzzled by the popularity of American Pie. I saw the first movie and thought it was ridiculous throughout. I do agree about Hannigan being a babe, even though she single handedly has made band camp into a joke (Im a band director).

[CamEdwards]

Originally posted by MattJones4Heisman
Ive always been puzzled by the popularity of American Pie. I saw the first movie and thought it was ridiculous throughout. I do agree about Hannigan being a babe, even though she single handedly has made band camp into a joke (Im a band director).

So can you share any stories about band hotties sticking their instruments where they shouldn't?

[Ksyrup]

I enjoyed band camp. Of course, I'm a geek. But you knew that already, since I frequent this place.

[bionicgrov03]

i have to totally agree with EasyMac. i saw it on tuesday and i was lost after the first 10 minutes. it seemeed absolutely ridiculous after that. they totally decimated stifler's character, and made him the most annoying character in any movie i'v ever seen. another thing, why was he a football coach and not the lacrosse coach(don't worry, this isn't a spoiler)? i was waiting the entire film to find out what happened to oz and nadia, hell, even the sherminator; but they never said. i actually think it would have been better if they left stifler's mom out of the whole film. the one scene that could have been different from the other two and could have been funny, the nightclub scene, was totally screwed by terrible dance moves and sean william scott having no rythm. also, why did jim turn on stifler and begin to hate him?

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, the overweight lesbian twit from Best In Show...

What was this, a half-hearted attempt at re-assembling the cast of a Christopher Guest movie, sandwiched with a teen flick?

If that were the case, it probably would have turned out to be a pretty good movie.

All of Guest's movies are among my favorite comedies.

[Ksyrup]

The difference being, of course, that Christopher Guest was nowhere near this film.

[KWhit]

It sounds like it could have used his help.

[tucker342]

I figured this movie was going to be crap... at least now I know it really does suck, thanks:D

[sabotai]

"And at least explain why Oz and the 3 girls aren't there. Sure, kids grow apart during college, but dammit, you can't get rid of integral (debatable, but still) members of the series with absolutely nothing."

This might be a very good reason why it sucked (have not seen it yet). Scheduling conflicts and such may have prevented these actors in being in the movie. It may have gone through several heavy rewrites to get those characters out. And in the rewrites, it just lost whatever it may have had in way of quality.

I'll still end up seeing the movie anyway. But now I know I don't have to pay attention to the plot and just stare at the ladies. *tiger growl*

[the_meanstrosity]

I went ahead and saw American Wedding. I thought it was solid. It was no better, no worse than the previous Pie movies. I agree on the missing cast never being explained. That was mishandled. But overall, I was entertained. There were some funny sequences mixed throughout the movie. Eugene Levy, is as always great. Scott has his moments as Stifler.

It was entertaining and I'd rate it about the same as the both Pie I and II.

[mrskippy]

After washing AP2 tonight, I intend to see this over the weekend.

[Easy Mac]

Originally posted by sabotai
This might be a very good reason why it sucked (have not seen it yet). Scheduling conflicts and such may have prevented these actors in being in the movie. It may have gone through several heavy rewrites to get those characters out. And in the rewrites, it just lost whatever it may have had in way of quality.


Supposedly, the directors didn't even offer Kline a role in the film. They never intended to bring him back. Supposedly the same for Reid and that scary girl.

But I agree, they needed the Sherminator as much if not more than they needed the MILF guys.

[Craptacular]

I'll probably see it just for Eugene Levy. Though not from the AP series, he has one of my all-time favorite movie quotes: "You think you hate it now, but wait 'til you drive it!"

[mrskippy]

Wally World!!!!

[sabotai]

"Supposedly, the directors didn't even offer Kline a role in the film. They never intended to bring him back. Supposedly the same for Reid and that scary girl."

Not bringing Kline back doesn't really surprise me. He's a very horrible actor. Mena Savrai (the scary one?) and Tara Reid do surprise me though. They're both kind of big draws.

Though I can see by not bringing Kline back, you wouldn't bring Mena's character back either.

[sabotai]

dola,

I found this: Explaination (http://www.piemovie3.com/newsitem.php?sid=62)

Appears the writer just didn't think the characters would "work" in this film, so he cut them out. Bummer.

[mrskippy]

BTW, Since someone brought up a reference to the original National Lampoon's Vacation movie and since this is about a sequel and since this sequel is getting less than favorable reviews (mediocre), here's a sequel that probably will be in the running for worst of the year:

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0367623

At least it's made for TV. At least they got Randy Quaid to reprise his role, since nobody else can do it better. And at least they haven't changed the actress playing Cousin Eddie's wife.

However, there's only one Griswold -- Audrey, who will be played by the fifth person to take that part.

[B]EDIT:[/B} Ah, crap. In the spirit of Dumb and Dumberer, looks like we get another taste of Romy and Michelle (yup, a prequel, with different people playing the title characters):

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0337114



I predict stinker. But hopefully it will be good for a few laughs.

[mrskippy]

Anyway, I think that read about Oz not being in the movie makes good sense. Than again, if Oz is part of Jim's close circle of buddies, wouldn't he attend the bachelor party and wedding? Would he not possibly be part of the wedding party? He shouldn't have been written out.

I agree a wedding for him and Heather makes absolutely no sense. Too boring.

Jim is the main character and Michelle pretty much took leading lady status in AP2. Plus we already know Jim's parents so that makes things much easier than introducing a new set of parents to get to know.

With Jim getting married, it lets you have more fun with Eugene Levy as the groom's father. It lets you carry on the tradition of Jim getting caught in all those whacky situations.

Stifler is there to provide comic relief. Though I here he's a bit annoying in this one. He is the party king in the first two AP films and he has to be here to take care of the bachelor party duties.

Kevin to me is a tossup. But he also was the one to come up with the scheme in AP1 and the summer plan in AP2. So he has played an integral part in keeping the guys together. And in some sense an intergral part in Jim and Michelle hooking up.

Finch needs to be there so we can continue his exploits with Stifler's mom, which is a great ongoing subplot in the first two and carried out very well to the end in AP2.

Speaking of Stifler's mom, I can't watch another movie with Jennifer Coolidge in it without referring to her as "Stifler's mom." Sad to think that her bit part in these films as given her that typecast.

BTW, looking at the cast list, it's obvious to see the idea behind writing some people out. A number of new people had to be written in. It makes sense to include Michelle's family and friends.

Of course, if Oz is in the movie than you have to include Heather, right? Not really. Is this a summer setting again for the movie? Heather could be studying overseas again.

And you could always have Oz overseas this way. Have Oz and Heather send a gift, make a phone call, offer his congrats, and say sorry he couldn't be there. Yada yada.

Nadia really didn't belong. Jim dumped her. That's his old love. She hooked up with the Sherminator. Of course, Sherm isn't in the flick either. Once again, a quick, where are they now could have sufficed. Sherm and Nadia went to some hedonist colony or something like that. They were a great match. Wild guy, wild chick. Perfect.

Vicky is only Kevin's friend and it was made clear she's onto other men now. Put Kevin with a new girlfriend and that problem is solved. Vicky is history. For all we know, she's married and moved out of Dodge.

Jessica probably is the easiest of everybody to write out, since she had limited significance in the first two ... other than to put people in their place perhaps. She also was Vicky's sidekick. Needless to say, doubtful she would've had to much with the wedding given the circumstances.

That said, I figure if American Wedding bombs, this may be the last one. Though I think even if it does well, it will be the last one. There just isn't much more that you can do with this.

Of course, one would hope they do something down the road to show what's happened to everybody. I think with characters being written out, people would like to know.

[Bad-example]

But what do you really think?

[rexallllsc]

I didn't even go see the second one because it looked like rehashed crap. I don't understand why anyone thought the third one would be any different.

[Swaggs]

I always found it strange that Kevin received so much screen time because he has the thinnest character in my opinion. I own AP2 on DVD and there are 9 people on its cover and Kevin isn't among it (even Jessica is?).

Still, it makes sense for his character to be in this one as he is the guy in the group that tries to keep everyone together.

[JeeberD]

Originally posted by mrskippy
[B]EDIT:[/B} Ah, crap. In the spirit of Dumb and Dumberer, looks like we get another taste of Romy and Michelle (yup, a prequel, with different people playing the title characters):

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0337114



At least they have Katherine Heigl playing Romy. That in itself might make it worth seeing...

[Killebrew]

I hate it when they don't play the Jim's dad card nearly enough! :mad:

[the_meanstrosity]

Skippy,

You have to realize that in the movie timeline, it's been 3 years since AP2. So Kline and Suvari could easily have 'escaped' the old high school cliq. It would have been nice for an explanation, but then what kind of explanation could they make up for missing a 'good friend' getting married. The only thing I can assume is that Kline and Suvari's characters moved on.

As for Sherminator, he was more of a bit player anyway. And as you said, to bring him up means bringing up Nadia. That would have been too much.

I agree with your thought. The directors had to bring in a new cast for Michelle's family and thus they took the place of the old cast members. As as you noted, the character Kevin didn't even do much this time around. Overall, I think they handled the movie well. They didn't busy it up with information and instead focused on their previous success. Jim, his dad, Finch, Michelle, and Stifler.

[mrskippy]

Good points.

I'm actually gonna see this later today or tomorrow. My guess is that I'll enjoy it.

Doubtful we'll see a fourth movie.

Though if AW is three years after AP2, and AP2 was a year after AP1, than we're four years out of high school.

Coming next summer, a made for TV movie like no other ...

American Reunion

[the_meanstrosity]

Skippy,

LOL. Yes! You should be a movie mogul, lol.

[mrskippy]

The way Hollywood is churning out sequel after sequel after sequel these days, you can never rule anything out.

I mean, look at my two made for TV examples from above.

Than again, I still think Mel Brooks has to make History Of The World Part Two.

[mrskippy]

OK, I just got back from seeing American Wedding.

As expected, I thoroughly enjoyed it and think this may have drawn the most laughs of the three films.

I think the disappointment with Oz and Heather, Vicky, Jessica, Nadia, and Sherminator not being in this one are not that big a deal. At most I'd have given a married Oz and Heather a cameo at the reception congratulating the newlyweds. But Vicky, Jessica, Nadia and the Sherminator would have added nothing more to the film.

Nadia was mentioned/alluded on a number of occasions in the movie and I think that was all that needed to be done. The rest of it is not a big deal.

At the same time I think Kevin, Finch, and Stifler stay for the right reasons. They are the right picks for the best men. Kevin because he's the straight guy, the sane one, the good buddy. Finch is sort of the brainy, suave guy. And Stifler is the asshole buddy that we all have, but is mostly a nice guy.

Cadence was a nice addition and matching her up with Stifler was perfect. If any guy's gonna ask "does she have a sister" it would be him and they play this really, really well. It also gave us a chance to see that Stifler, for the most part, means well, even if he can be a jerk.

I don't think they made Stifler any more or less obnoxious than the previous two. And I think American Wedding finally let us see what kind of person he really is and can be.

Some of the bit part characters in this one, notably Stifler's "new friends" from Chicago (I won't give everything away), were a nice touch and I think if they were meant to replace the bit parts of Jessica, Sherminator, etc. it was a good choice. Very nice touch and offering several laughs.

There may have been a few flaws with this one. I found Michelle's parents to be the most troubling.

We never really get to know them. I also found it odd that Jim had never met them even though he had dated their daughter for 3 years and had known her since high school. Aren't they from the same town? I can understand had they met in college and were from opposite parts of the country, but this one didn't make any sense.

A few other subtle things may have came up during the film. Since I can't remember them, they're probably not a big deal. And every movie I've seen has had a few nuances like that.

I think to truly appreciate this movie, you had to have seen the first too. You needed to understand who these characters were, who Nadia was, how Jim and Michelle met (including their original sexual encounter), Jim's relationship with his father, etc.

You also have to consider that all three movies have probably been more about Jim than anyone else. Just look at the opening scenes of all three movies. Jim jacking off to the porno in AP1, Jim having sex in the college dorm on the last day of Freshman year, and than of course what we have in AW/AP3 (I won't reveal it). Also consider the movies name and what character is connected to it.

Overall I think this one stands proudly alongside the first two films as a nice little teen comedy trilogy.

Two thumbs up!!! 3 out of 4 stars! A-

[the_meanstrosity]

Skippy,

Glad to hear you liked it. Like you, I wondered why Jim never met the parents previously. That was one hole they never really talked about. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the parents moved after Michelle's senior year. But still...cmon 3 years, lol.

It was a solid movie that entertained me. I can't complain, lol. Plus there were some scenes that just had me rolling. Good stuff.

[Buccaneer]

Why would there be a 3 year gap between AW and AP2?

[korme]

They ruined Stifler.. how gay was he?? Damn. I think it was his fault too, though, Sean William Scott way overacted.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
Why would there be a 3 year gap between AW and AP2?

AP2 was just after their freshman year in college. AW takes place after they've graduated. So we're assuming 3-4 years in between.

[Buccaneer]

That makes sense, waiting until after college to get married. The movies are worth seeing at least for one reason only, Allyson.

[SteelerFan448]

I thought the movie was just as good as the first. Tons of laughs in it. I'm not gonna nitpick at anything because the movie entertained me and I would see it again. That is all that matters.

[Swaggs]

A little slower to get started than prior versions, but still well worth seeing.

[Anthony]

i lowered my expectations about this movie after reading this thread. i was not dissapointed. i think the overreliance on Stifler for probably all of the funny parts was overkill. he was a side character in the last two, but he clearly takes a supporting actor role in this one. not the best idea. they also made him somehwat more goofy, whereas he used to be more of a "cool" guy in the other films.

i think this franchise has clearly ended. too bad it didn't go out with a bang. but entertaining noetheless. and it's not as bad as some of the posts here suggest.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by mrskippy
BTW, Since someone brought up a reference to the original National Lampoon's Vacation movie and since this is about a sequel and since this sequel is getting less than favorable reviews (mediocre), here's a sequel that probably will be in the running for worst of the year:

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0367623

At least it's made for TV. At least they got Randy Quaid to reprise his role, since nobody else can do it better. And at least they haven't changed the actress playing Cousin Eddie's wife.

However, there's only one Griswold -- Audrey, who will be played by the fifth person to take that part.


Actually, it looks like Dana Barron (who played Audrey in the original Vacation) will be reprising her role. It just won't be the same without Clark.

[mrskippy]

Cool. American Wedding was the box office champ this weekend. $34.3 million. Not bad. It was $11 million less than AP2, but more than the original made in opening weekend.

Experts say the $34.3 million also is good considering how sequel's have performed this summer. BTW the movie had a budget of $55 million.