The somewhat muddled critical reaction to American Wedding has me flustered, especially considering how many critics found a way to give a pass to schlop like Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. When I started this column I made a promise to myself to never compromise my instinctual reaction to a film merely to appear professional or high-brow, and it is in this spirit that I must inform you that I laughed harder during American Wedding than I have during any other movie in quite some time.


The original American Pie established this sort of gross-out, sexually obsessed humor, but was applauded by audiences and critics alike because it also had a lot of heart and contained a good message about there being more to life and relationships than simply getting laid. While the sequel was a completely useless dud of a movie that I could have gone without, this third installment is more like the first one, except in many ways it has matured as now Jim and his "band geek" girlfriend are getting married. Of course, the film is also very immature in a way that will have many moviegoers rolling in the aisles, offering one hilarious setup after the next.

Where the film benefits most is the fact that it doesn't try to include all of the same cast; you could watch American Wedding without having seen the other two and still enjoy it as much as everyone else, aside from missing a few jokes. In the end, it really worked for me because despite being contrived and slightly unrealistic now and then, the screenplay by Adam Herz is actually pretty sharp. On several occasions a character gets into a bit of trouble, and as more and more elements are introduced into each scene, the entire situation culminates into something much funnier than we ever anticipated.

So why would critics embrace the first film and not this one? Maybe because it's a little more goofy, not quite as sweet, and occasionally repetitive, but in my opinion there are more than enough big laughs to make up for its flaws. Overall, I'd say American Wedding is the most pleasant surprise of the summer, outside of Pirates of the Caribbean, that is.

Posted August 11, 2003 | link