The people behind the American Pie franchise seem to be genuinely under the impression that after two gross-out movies that attracted audiences looking for lowbrow laughs, moviegoers might have actually come to care for the series' one-dimensional characters. Despite the fact that these comedies have been built almost entirely around boorish bodily fluid jokes and a very few bawdy gems, American Wedding jumps so impetuously, from dog-doo-mistaken-for-chocolate gags to trite tender-moment montage sequences to an ailing grandmother's sex scenes, that none of it--the jokes or the sentiment--comes across with any conviction. In this outing, nervous nerd Jason Biggs (known for pastry-inclined self-gratification) and flaky, sweet, secretly kinky geek Alyson Hannigan are getting married, and the script shows little creativity in its stock episodes of embarrassing in-law misunderstandings, bachelor party strippers, and the seduction of bridesmaids by chauvinist pigs. There's a handful of out-loud laughs, but the film often falls back on the dimwit clowning of repellent, rage-aholic Steve Stifler, played by Seann William Scott, whose “acting” consists of holding one screwed-up, loutish, stoner-dude sneer for the length of whatever movie he's in. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include rated and unrated versions (with the option of a brief intro by director Jesse Dylan on the unrated), audio commentaries (one by Dylan and costar Seann William Scott, the other by costars Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Thomas Ian Nicholas), 22 minutes of deleted scenes (with intros by co-writer/producer Adam Herz and Scott), six minutes of outtakes, a seven-minute featurette on the “Stifler Speak” vernacular, the 10-minute “Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party,” the seven-minute featurette “Grooming the Groom,” the three-minute satirical “Cheesy Wedding Video,” the 10-minute featurette “Nikki's Hollywood Journal” with costar Nikki Schieler Ziering about the film's premiere, cast and filmmaker bios and film highlights, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a solid set of extras for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Mar. 13, 2012—Universal, 104 min., not rated, $19.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2003's American Wedding sports a great transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Extras carried over from the previous DVD release include the unrated and rated versions of the film, two audio commentaries (the first with director Jesse Dylan and costars Seann William Scott; the second with costars Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Thomas Ian Nicholas), deleted scenes (22 min.), an “Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party” featurette (10 min.), “Nikki's Hollywood Journal” with costar Nikki Schieler Ziering on the film's premiere (10 min.), “Grooming the Groom” with Biggs (7 min.), “Stifler Speak” with Scott (7 min.), outtakes (6 min.), “Kevin Cam: A Day in the Life of an Actor” with Nicholas (4 min.), a “Cheesy Wedding Video” (3 min.), and trailers. Blu-ray extras exclusive to this release include “A Look Inside” featurette on the upcoming fourth film (4 min.), bonus DVD and digital copies of the film, and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for this third-time's-not-the-charm entry in the popular franchise.]
American Wedding
Universal, 95 min., R, VHS: $22.98, DVD: $26.98, Jan. 2 Volume 19, Issue 1
American Wedding
Star Ratings
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