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American Wedding, the third and supposedly final chapter in the American Pie series, will make you laugh out loud more than a few times with its often juvenile and scatological humour.
It lives up to the, er, high standards set by its predecessors, which helped bring back the long-lost teen sex comedy genre to moviegoers.
American Wedding sees uber-dork Jim (Jason Biggs) and horny band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) finally deciding to tie the knot. And so some old faces return, maybe a little wiser -- Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) is still dispensing awkward sexual advice to his boy, Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is still the deadpan brainiac pining for love and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is still providing moral support for his pals. And, oh yeah, the demented, wild-eyed party animal Stifler (Seann William Scott) makes a third appearance and makes all hell break loose.
Stifler is both the best and worst thing about American Wedding.
His odious character gets the film's biggest laughs, whether he's performing in a dance-off at a gay nightclub, arranging a crazy bachelor party for Jim or pretending to be a mild-mannered, sweater-around-the-shoulders-wearing sweetheart to score with Michelle's virginal sister Cadence (January Jones).
Sure, Scott's shtick is funny, but his character is so over-the-top and overbearing that it can get a little tiresome. And he gets so much screen time in this go-around that you sort of wonder whether this should have been called American Pie 3: Stifler.
But, as with the previous films, the likeable Biggs remains American Wedding's heart and soul. His painfully clumsy heart-to-hearts with his dad, his frequent humiliations involving his nether regions, and his lack of confidence and poise all make him the perfect hero -- an everyman that people can relate to and cheer on. Without his story, the American Pie flicks would be just crass toilet humour with little redeeming value.
About half of the original cast -- Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid and our favourite, the red-headed guy who played the Shermanator -- don't make it back the third time around, and the movie's cast feels a little barren in their absence.
Still, newcomers Fred Willard and Deborah Rush as Michelle's parents do a good job filling the void. And, really, the only times the first two films slowed to a crawl were during the lovey-dovey scenes between Klein and Suvari and Nicholas and Reid.
More important to the success of these films was the return of writer Adam Herz and producers Chris and Paul Weitz. Together, they make sure American Wedding stays just this side of sentimental. Instead of sappiness, they crank up the dirty language and even dirtier situations, ensuring that American Wedding is as funny and disgusting as the first two Pie movies.
While this is being billed as the "thrilling climax of the American Pie saga," don't bet on it. If the box office warrants it, we wouldn't be surprised if the cast and crew gathered for a honeymoon.
(This film is rated 14-A)