American Pie is the iconic coming-of-age comedy that premiered in 1999, and spawned three sequels that actually aired in theaters and a handful of (mostly bad) direct-to-DVD spinoffs in which pretty much only Eugene Levy (Jim's Dad) and Chris Own (Sherman) made regular appearances. The basic plot is that a group of teenage boys who are in their senior year of high school make a pact to have sex before prom. Of course, you have to buy that a guy who looks like Chris Klien could not have had sex before he was a senior in high school, but hey, it is a movie.
It is a comedy in a similar vein to 80s coming-of-age comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Private School, Porky's, and the like. It is more of a raunchy comedy than Fast Times and Sixteen Candles were, but does not have as much nudity as Porky's did. I would call it a mix of those types of movies. And, for those of us who were not in high school in the 1980s, it is a bit more relatable than some of the older movies. Basically, anyone who was in, or graduated high school from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s will easily be able to relate to the humor.
The movie pretty much launched the careers of Jason Biggs, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Tara Reid, Shannon Elizabeth, Sean William Scott, Chris Klien, Mena Suvari, and Natasha Lyonne. Alyson Hannigan was already known for having been on Buffy The Vampire Slayer for a couple of years, and pretty much stole every scene she was in. As most will likely remember, she had the iconic line about what she did at band camp toward the end of the movie. And, of course, there is the Shannon Elizabeth Jason Biggs webcam scene which, while it probably would not be included in a movie today, is hilarious. The movie also helped revive the careers of Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge. Some of the younger stars would go on to have varying levels of success and a varying amount of turmoil in their personal lives.
For those who have not upgraded to blu-ray but still prefer DVD to streaming, the original DVD release included a bunch of extras including featurettes on the locations, the music, and the cast and crew. There are also production notes, a feature on the classic quotes from the movie, outtakes/gag reel, the theatrical trailer, a commentary track with the director, producer, writer, and several cast members, and a bunch of DVD-ROM features if you play it in a computer CD-ROM drive.
Overall, while the movie is probably as outdated for today's teenagers as the 1980s movies were at the time this came out, it still holds up fairly well 20+ years down the line. Face it, there are definitely things that will always be common to being a teenager that will easily cross generations. The movie is mostly tongue-in-cheek, although there are a few dramatic growing-up moments in it. But, if you accept it for what it is, it is a great comedy and definitely worth a look.
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