Half the original cast is missing...a warning?

American Pie: The Wedding (known in America as American Wedding) was an inevitable event considering the box office success of its predecessors. The original two American Pie films were blueprint instances of contemporary American sex comedies: copiousness of profanity, nudity, sex references and plain lewd language...while still possessing an underlying poignancy. They weren't masterpieces at all, but in any case people could relate to the characters while reflecting on the rampant hormones of their teenage years. The first film examined teens enthusiastic to lose their virginity, the second film focused on college days, and now the third film explores some of these characters tying the knot. There never seems to be much point, does there?

The preceding American Pie films I didn't overly love despite a few laughs to be had. American Pie: The Wedding is the worst film in the series thus far. This third film is wholeheartedly superfluous. The studio got their box office profits, but this instalment makes the film as gross and vulgar as achievable...pushing things to maximum extremes in the faint hope of a laugh. However it fails quite unspeakably to the point that I was rarely laughing. In fact, the film is just plain sickening, repulsive and occasionally offensive! Half the original cast is missing for this film. At least some characters have finally grown up and moved on!

Jim (Biggs) and his girlfriend Michelle (Hannigan) have now been dating for a number of years. After college graduation, Jim proposes to Michelle. As the title would suggest, Michelle accepts and the wedding preparations commence. This thin plot is an excuse for a long string of pointless jokes. These gags frequently fail. It seems that the screenwriters have a clear idea that the audience desires more Stifler (Scott). Now Stifler has been promoted to a protagonist (obviously replacing Chris Klein as 'Oz') as he endlessly swears and desperately searches for sex. Throw in Finch (Thomas) and Kevin (Nicholas) as those present to support Jim in the lead up to his wedding, as well as Jim's sex-crazed father (Levy) who's there to make things more interesting (it seems).

Before the release of American Pie: The Wedding, the marketing tried to make us believe that this is the funniest "slice of pie" yet. Either they were amazing lyers, or the filmmakers are seriously self-deluded. What has become a supposed rites-of-passage trilogy initiated as a cunningly appealing amalgamation of gross-out comedy (sometimes amusing) and a credible set of characters. With disparaging predictability and mountains of clichés, the trilogy has devolved into this mess...effectively a remake of Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers and Father of the Bride. It's a clichéd wedding affair we've seen billions of times before! But this time, it's been given a makeover to suit the modern sex comedy genre.

Worse yet, this instalment never seems like it actually accomplishes anything. These characters are more of the same. Finch is there to confess his love for Stifler's mother, Kevin is there to whinge his way through everything, Stifler is there to shag anything that moves, etc. And of course Levy as Jim's dad is going to make a few more allegedly funny situations created at the expense of Jim's embarrment. The final insult concerns Stifler...learning his lesson and starting to change his ways. Yet this seems thoroughly pointless because by the end of the movie he's still foul-mouthed and he still just yearns for sex. Of course, for this genre it's customary for these unnecessary sub-plots to be included. The script seems to go no-where. It's drenched in dispiriting amounts of conventions leading towards the predictable wedding that we all know will turn out okay. Every other aspect of the filmmaking is standard. Acting is fair, with the exception of Jason Biggs who sometimes seems very disjointed and uncoordinated.

Overall, American Pie: The Wedding takes things too far. It's only for you if you find the following things hilarious: eating dog poo, shagging a granny, dance off in a gay bar, etc. Bottom line: mildly entertaining with a good soundtrack, but wholly unnecessary.

3.7/10