American Wedding

American Wedding (2003)

Runtime: 103 minutes (the unrated version, anyway)

Directed by: Jesse Dylan

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas

From: Universal

Unfortunately, when I went to the videostore on Thursday American Pie 2 wasn't available for rental but this was. I wasn't too upset by it though as oddly enough 2 was the one that I've seen the most so I remember the majority of it pretty decently, and I say that is almost as good as the first one, with many funny and memorable moments. I also saw parts of it on TBS last weekend, which did help jog my memory.

However, when I saw this in August of '03 (I couldn't believe it was that long ago) on the big screen I didn't really like it. That's why I never watched it for a second time until just last night. And yeah, my opinion has changed:

I dislike it even more now than I did back then! I really did not remember too much of it, I came to learn.

The plot doesn't really need to be described as the title says it all and you probably know it already: Jim and Michelle get married and some (but not all) of the gang are there and thus you get mischief and wild situations, many of which are quite vulgar. Sure, some of the gags are pretty funny. But, too often the joke seems to be stretched out too thin, going on too long. And, the characters in general seem to act not quite like themselves based off of what you saw in the previous films.

But what turned me off then and what still turned me off now was how Stifler acted here. He was WAY out of control and way too unbelievable in the incredibly loud and crass way he acted. I mean, even compared to the first two movies he was over the top and acted like such a repugnant person you wondered why Jim and his buddies didn't kick The Stiffmeister's ass, as that's what I would have done due to the way he was acting. Like I said, there are some humorous moments but it's drowned out by all the things that at least for me turned me off. Then again, it seemed like the way Stifler acted was appropriate for this movie given that there are some rather gross things, even for this franchise. It seemed like the filmmakers forgot a big appeal of this series was heart and caring about the characters and instead focused mainly on being vulgar and tasteless.

There really isn't too much else to say, but at least the parents of Jim and Michelle escaped this with their dignity intact. You should expect Eugene Levy and Fred Willard to at least be fine and they were indeed that.

Thankfully, tonight I saw American Reunion (I'll be reviewing that Sunday night) and it's in the spirit of the first two. Sure, there's the gross-out and vulgarity, but there's also the heart and you caring about the characters and all that. If you enjoyed the first two you should see Reunion.