‘American Wedding’ is uneven, but sweet
By Rene Rodriguez
Knight Ridder Newspapers

“I thought I would have grown out of this sort of behavior by now,” says Jim (Jason Biggs), the perpetually humiliated hero of “American Wedding.” But in an “American Pie” movie, no one ever really grows up, not even the adults. That’s the whole point of the series, if not the entire teen-sex-comedy genre:

Watching people behave in ways that you would have found embarrassing even when you were in high school, and can now laugh at and mock from the safety of your seat.

So even though “American Wedding” (a k a “American Pie 3”) centers on the impending nuptials between Jim and the flute-loving Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), there’s still plenty of time for hilarious hijinks involving wayward pubic hair, topless dominatrixes and the ingestion of substances that were never, ever meant to be eaten outside of a John Waters movie (specifically, “Pink Flamingos”).

All three “Pie” movies have consisted of comic setpieces strung together by the flimsiest of plots in order to fill out 90 minutes of screen time, and the formula has never been more noticeable than it is this time. But “American Wedding” feels less tired than it should, thanks to the series’ ensemble cast, whose ranks have been mysteriously thinned out (missing in action are Chris Klein, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid and Mena Suvari), perhaps because in real life, some people really do grow out of this stuff.

But Biggs and Hannigan are likable, unaffected actors whose mere presence puts you in a forgiving mood, and returning players Eddie Kaye Thomas (as the sharp-tongued, newly sober Finch) and Eugene Levy (as Jim’s dad, still showing up at the most inappropriate moments to impart way too much information) remain equally inspired.

Best of all, though, is Seann William Scott as the profoundly annoying, profoundly vulgar Stifler, whose character has devolved through each successive “Pie” movie into a gonzo dervish of the id (the older he gets, the more childish and impudent he becomes). Director Jesse Dylan (son of Bob) wisely turns over large chunks of the film to Scott, who has the most depraved leer since John Belushi and shares that actor’s willingness to go as far over the top as he has to in order to make you laugh. He is “American Wedding’s” secret weapon, and he manages to enliven this uneven but undeniably sweet movie just enough to make it squeak by. Let’s just hope they draw the line at “American Baby.”

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