Review No.69: American Pie - Reunion

So onto another cheap Tuesday screening and thankfully another fairly empty cinema thanks to the fact most people are at work. This week it was time to revel in nostalgia as I relived my adolescence with the return to the American Pie franchise with American Reunion. Though the claim is that this reunites the cast after thirteen years in fact the third instalment of the franchise went out in 2003 while Eugene Levy has sullied the name of the pie even further by constantly starring in straight-to-DVD rip-offs. The reunion sees all of the cast older, though some don't look it, but not necessarily wiser and in some cases they haven't changed at all. Jim and Michelle are now married with a kid however their sex-life is non-existent, Kevin is also married but has become almost too domesticated, Oz is a sports caster as well as being a minor celebrity thanks to his appearance on a dance show and Finch has seemingly disappeared. Then there's Stifler whose not changed one iota still the obnoxious goofball who once was in high school he's now doing temp work and having to answer to a boss who he absolutely hates. When their reunion comes up all four decide to meet up without informing a jealous Stifler thinking that he would go about ruining things in addition all four look at their yearbook to see where they wanted to be at this time in their lives and to see how near they are to fulfilling those dreams. Along the way Oz and Heather still discover they have the chemistry they once had despite them both having partners, Kevin also comes face to face with Vicky while Jim tries to help out his now widowed father move on with his life.

It seems apt that American Reunion is review number 69 as that's the kind of infantile humour that the writers of the film seem to enjoy. From Stifler pooing into a coolbox to Jim wearing some leather chaps everything here seems oddly familiar however I would've like some of the heart that made the original American Pie so appealing. Instead we get an oddly unsettling story in which the girl who Jim used to babysit, who has now turned 18, wants to have sex with him and several times almost succeeds. There are some sweeter moments usually involving Jim and his dad but that's mainly because Jason Biggs and Eugene Levy have great chemistry together. I think I enjoyed this film more than it deserved because of the nostalgia element seeing John Cho as the milf guy, the return of the Sherminator and Shannon Elizabeth's Nadia or made me feel oddly attached to the past as did the sounds of Lit's 'My Own Worst Enemy' and James' Laid. The end of the film sees all of the lads problems dealt with some of them have found new love while some of them have found ways to move on with their lives however there is the worrying feeling that they'll now do this every year. I would suggest leaving the next film for another ten or fifteen years when everybody actually looks older and not just like they've grown beards to signify their maturity.

Verdict: A really hard one to score because of the nostalgia element it probably doesn't deserve it but I'm going to give it nonetheless a 5.5/10

Review No.32: Goon

It's interesting the preconceptions you form before watching a film for example take Goon from the poster which sees Seann William Scott smiling with a mouth full of bloody teeth from this I imagined a film that saw Stifler playing ice hockey for 90 minutes but how wrong I was. Though I've seen William Scott play slightly different roles in Southland Tales and Stark Raving Mad for the majority of the past thirteen years he's been portraying the same character that he did in 1999's American Pie. I can safely say that in Goon we see Scott give his best performance ever as Doug a slightly slow bouncer who finds a career as an ice hockey player who can take a beating. After protecting his friend, who hosts a low-rent hockey show, he catches the eye of a local manager but soon is drafted to the big time playing for the Halifax Highlanders. In his role as an enforcer he soon becomes a team favourite however his team-mate and flatmate Xavier LaFlamme isn't happy with this popularity seeing Doug as a thug or a goon rather than a proper ice hockey player. It is this theme that plays throughout the film as Doug's role as an enforcer is more about him beating up the other team players that is about the finesse that Xavier has and Doug also fails to gain the approval of his parents. In addition there is a romantic subplot featuring Doug falling for Alison Pill's Eva a hockey fan who has a boyfriend but is strangely attracted to his aggressive nature.

I have to say Goon is a strange mix of sports film, comedy and character-led drama with Seann William Scott making the most of a slightly underwritten character. I thought Scott was certainly the standout in this film fleshing out the role of Doug into someone who has always been seen as second best but is trying to make something out of his life with the skill set that he has been given. His romance with Eva is certainly the sweetest thing about this very violent film and where he tells her that he has a major crush on her you can't help but smile. As well as the violence, which isn't that excessive given the subject manner, to me I found there was an overuse of bad language especially from Jay Baruchel's character but then along with Judd Apatow regular Evan Goldberg he did write the script so he obviously wanted to swear a lot here. Apparently this is based on a true story but obviously it wasn't that interesting as I felt the film ended too soon and it really seemed that Baruchel and Golberg wanted to trick the audience into thinking there was more left but I never felt that there was any resolution to Doug's inner turmoil which was the point of the film in the first place.

Verdict: A great performance from Scott and a sweet romantic subplot gives this violent and foul-mouthed film some heart however it ends too quickly so I'll give it 6.5/10