Susan Granger’s review of “American Reunion” (Universal Pictures)
When Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) and his wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) return to East Great Falls, Michigan, for their 13th reunion, it’s time to reconnect with their libidinous high school gang. Predictably, Steven Stifler (Seann William Scott) works as a law firm temp and still lives with his seductive mom (Jennifer Coolidge). But successful Chris Ostreicher (Chris Klein) has become a minor celebrity, hosting a sports show on cable TV after losing a dance contest to Gilbert Gottfried. He’s showing off his supermodel girl-friend (Katrina Bowden) when he runs into his first love, Heather (Mena Suvari).
Yet things have changed. While Jim and Michelle’s sexual relationship used to steam, having to deal with their two year-old son has taken its toll, leaving both of them masturbating in solitude. Jim’s marital frustration becomes obvious when he sees the girl-next-door, Kara (Ali Cobrin), who is now almost 18 and eager to lose her clothes and her virginity with her virtuous former babysitter. While committed to a wife who’s wild about reality television, goateed Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) reignites an old flame with Vicky (Tara Reid). Adventurous Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), who once had a thing with Stifler’s mom, now leads a well-traveled bohemian life, showing up on a motorcycle. Then there’s sexy Selena (Dania Ramiriz) and Chad Ochochinco as himself.
This is the latest installment in the “American Pie” series and the first since “American Wedding” (2003), but writers/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (creators of the “Harold & Kumar” franchise) stick with the repetitive, tried-and-true Class of ’99 jokes, episodically delineating each character’s discontented dilemma –and tossing in a Neil Patrick Harris cameo.
Is it still crass, crude and vulgar? Without question – like when sex-starved Stifler defecates in a beer-cooler. And will there be yet another gross sequel? You betcha.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “American Reunion” flakes into a flaccid 5, but you should know that it’s often squirm-inducing, particularly when Jim’s lonely widower dad (Eugene Levy) graphically explains how to cure erectile dysfunction with a thumb.
