Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Eugene Levy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eugene Levy. Show all posts

5/14/2014

American Reunion/American Pie: Reunion (2012) - Another chapter in the odyssey of the sex pie

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Everyone is back for Jon Hurwitz and Haydn Schlossberg's American Reunion

QUICK REVIEW:

High school reunion # 13 is the one that the guys will reunite at.  And preferably without Stifler. They are in very different places in their lives, but are all very nostalgic about the reassembly.
Reunion doesn't invent anything novel, but continues in the same popular vein as the earlier films about the group of sex-obsessed characters. This is the fourth film in the theatrical series and the 8th in the franchise overall, (4 have been made without the major stars as straight-to-video movies.)
Some moments fall to the ground, (not least towards the end), and some of Reunion is too low-brow and exaggerated. But at other times it manages to amuse, - often also with its reliance on exaggerated situations. As when SPOILER Stifler drives with jet-skis after his four-wheel drive; or when Jim tries to sneak a dead-drunk and nude 18 year-old into the house next door; or some of Stifler's unwelcome surprises at the reunion.
Particularly Jason Biggs (Anything Else (2003)) and Sean William Scott (Role Models (2008)), - who are also executive producers this time around (meaning first of all that they earned a lot more money from Reunion than the earlier movies), - are good.
American Reunion keeps the form of the earlier, beloved Pie-sex comedies without ever striking up anything wildly imaginative.
The co-writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg has previously graced the world with their writing or/and directing of four Harold & Kumar movies, and they are now preparing a movie with the title Cherries, about three fathers that try to keep their daughters from having sex at Prom night.

Related review:

American Pie (1999) or, Losing It Before Prom 


Jennifer Coolidge and Eugene Levy in Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg's American Reunion


Watch the trailer here

Budget: 50 mil. $
Box office: 234.7 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of American Reunion and the other Pie-movies?
Looking forward to Cherries?

9/03/2013

American Pie (1999) or, Losing It Before Prom

♥♥♥♥♥


+ Best High School Movie of the Year + Best Sex Comedy of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year 


The over-night major stars of Chris and Paul Weitz's American Pie exude youthful energy on the poster

Four friends make a pact to have sex before their high school prom. And by using such auxiliaries as apple pie, laxatives, Stifler's mother, a webcam and good, pure intentions, they eventually succeed.

American Pie, written by Adam Herz (Go Fish (2001, TV-series)) and directed by brothers Chris (About a Boy (2002)) and Paul Weitz (Grandma (2015)), is a generational hit and a modern classic in the youth sex-comedy genre. It's a sweet and funny high school-set comedy with a lot of laughs and a charming cast: 
Especially Jason Biggs (All at Once (2016)) and Eugene Levy (Serendipity (2001)) as father and son work very well. The music is very contemporary for its time, and therefore, for me at least, feels very nostalgic today. Though it seems simple, the film succeeds in catching lightning in a bottle, and no wonder that American Pie was a giant, worldwide hit and spawned many sequels and rip-offs.

Related posts:

Chris Weitz:  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) or, Ginny's Fate: A Star Wars Calculation (co-writer) 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Paul Weitz: Admission (2013) - Despite messy script, Fey is hilarious in Weitz's romcom  (director)

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 







Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 11 mil. $
Box office: 235.4 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 21.4 times the cost)
[American Pie premiered 7 July (Los Angeles, California) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place from July - September 1998 in California, including Los Angeles. Universal Pictures were not convinced of the film's promise and stupidly sold off the foreign rights in order to recoup their investment as fast as possible. The film opened #1 to an 18.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#3) and grossed 102.5 mil. $ (43.5 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. The film also made in excess of 109.5 mil. $ in global home video sales, further underlining its monster success. Chris and Paul Weitz returned with Down to Earth (2001). Biggs returned with an uncredited appearance in Detroit Rock City (1999) and in a real part in Boys and Girls (2000). The Weitz brothers were out, but the film spurred a franchise that continued with American Pie 2 (2001), American Wedding (2003) and American Reunion (2012) as well as 4 direct-to-video spin-offs. American Pie is fresh at 61 % with a 5.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
 
What do you think of American Pie?

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)
Kleber Mendonca Filho's The Secret Agent (2025)