Review of American Reunion (2012) by Michael B — 21 May 2013

It's been 13 years (in both timeline and reality) since the teenage shenanigans of American Pie and the "Class of '99" have returned home for their high school reunion. If you have any kind of nostalgic fondness for the series (the 500 straight-to-DVD sequels notwithstanding) then you ought to have some fun with the reunited cast and daft gags and set-pieces. Be warned though, the film plays it incredibly safe with recycled gags and even entire sub-plots (wasn't the whole "Stifler must learn to grow up" thing done in American Wedding?) and outside of the gross-out/sex gags and syrupy sentiment there's about as much substance as The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Pretty much all the characters from the original films return and all have their own stories, though while some are entertaining enough (Jim/Michelle, Jim's Dad), others are nothing short of woeful (Oz/Heather, Kevin/Vicky). Prepare your eyes for some serious rolling. Trust me.

Still, it's a harmless enough sequel and decent entertainment. Knock a star off the rating if you're not a fan of the series.