American Wedding Blu-Ray Review

The third (and then) final Pie film comes in the form of a wedding. American Wedding marks the end of a trilogy for these particular characters. Director Jesse Dylan takes over the reigns and gives us the worst Pie film yet. American Wedding tests your patience and stretches out the jokes that used to be funny, making the film feel like a constant loop of dud jokes and toilet humor. Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan and Seann William Scott all return for the ride.

Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) open the film with another Pie styled gag. Jim attempts to propose to Michelle at the dinner table of a restaurant while she misinterprets his proposal signs for a sudden blowjob. She hops under the table as Jim’s dad (played by Eugene Levy) comes waltzing into the dining room with the ring that Jim left at home. Jim is then forced into the awkward situation of being on the receiving end of a sexual act while trying to carry on a polite conversation with his dad. It obviously ends in a weird fashion, but something really different follows. The film takes this joke (that isn’t even all that funny to begin with) and turns it into an attempt at a heartfelt proposal. The film’s tone is established very early on and it’s that same tone that ruins the film.

American Wedding pulls no tricks in delivering you another comedy, Pie style. What kind of worked in the first film does not work in this film. The ridiculous sexual humor that kept a running joke going is now extinguished almost immediately. I’m not sure if it’s the writing or directing, or maybe the lack of effort by the cast, but American Wedding just feels like a repeat of tired jokes and really dumb situations that don’t even work for the Pie crowd.

Stifler (Seann William Scott) gets into a dance off with a gay man at a gay bar, while Jim looks for a wedding dress designer. Instead of the scene ending in embarrassment for the gang and laughter for us, it ends with them actually finding the designer and Stifler winning the dance off. No laughter on are part and no real enjoyment. American Wedding somehow takes every direction that they would have gone in the previous 2 films and runs in the opposite direction.

Where jokes should end the film continues with them and when jokes shouldn’t even exist the film tries to make you laugh. It covers all of this garbage with a very thin layer of romantic connection between Jim and Michelle. Despite their lack of showing affection, the film always throws in their wedding to try and get an emotional rise out of you and it rarely ever works.

I didn’t think it was possible to make a film that is lower than the first American Pie in quality, but American Wedding does that with ease.

Universal Studios continues their cold streak with yet another troubled 1080p video transfer. American Wedding, like the previous 2 films, lacks real definition and any sharpness whatsoever. Colors are warm and unattractive throughout the entire film. There are a few very brief spots of close-up detail to things like faces, but only for a split second. Still, it’s the best looking Pie film yet, only because of its age.

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track on the other hand is a noticeable improvement. Finally, some activity in the back channels! Dialogue comes in through the front channels while the back channels do open up occasionally for environmental noise like party music.

American Wedding comes with the following special features:

• Theatrical & Unrated Cuts
• Deleted Scenes (SD)
• Outtakes (SD)
• American Reunion: A Look Inside (HD)
• Stifler Speak (SD)
• Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party (SD)
• Grooming the Groom (SD)
• Cheesy Wedding Video (SD)
• Kevin Cam: A Day in the Life of an Actor (SD)
• Nikki’s Hollywood Journal (SD)
• Commentary with Director Jesse Dylan and Actor Seann William Scott
• Commentary with Actors Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Thomas Ian Nicholas
• DVD Copy
• Digital Copy

Watching the Pie films in order is a disaster. American Pie starts off kind of weak and while it provides you with a few laughs here and a few laughs there, it is ultimately a forgettable comedy. American Pie 2 on the other hand keeps the same kind of humor, but injects a small dose of charm, which helps you identity with the characters. American Wedding takes what both films established and throws everything in the garbage, coming at you full speed with jokes that mostly fall dead and absolutely no charm or likability.

It also leaves you with no desire to see the fourth film, American Reunion. The only real accomplishment for American Wedding is its improved audio track that finally adds some dynamic to the sound mix. Up until this point every Pie audio track lacked any sort of audio track with range and distributed sounds. The picture quality also slightly improves too.

American Wedding is a bad film, but it’s probably something you should see if you want to go into Reunion having watched all the previous Pie films that matter.