American Pie

Getting back to films of 1999, specifically teen comedies, more specifically teen sex comedies, I turn to perhaps the epitome of that genre, American Pie. While the film is not very good, it launched a few things that are remembered today, such as "Stifler's Mom," and "One time, at band camp."

The tale of four boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school, American Pie was on the edge of a change in teenage habits. For one, this may have been the first film that utilized the Internet. In a scene that we can judge today as unspeakable, the character of Jim (Jason Biggs) sets up a web-cam to spy on Shannon Elizabeth undressing. The film presents it as all good fun, but of course this is not only a crime, but horribly misogynistic.

Two, American Pie popularized the acronym "MILF," referring to the mother of one of the boys (Jennifer Coolidge). This term is also misogynistic, but did spawn an entire genre of adult film.

As prurient and crude as American Pie is, it does have an endearing sweetness about it. The script acknowledges that most boys are still virgins in high school (I certainly was, I don't know if that's true today), and they have an obsession with sex. The most famous scene, I suppose, is when Biggs, told that the vagina feels like "warm apple pie," has sexual congress with an actual pie. I've always thought that scene was stupid, as why would any right-thinking person stick their penis in a pie (but Philip Roth did write about masturbating with a piece of liver in Portnoy's Complaint). Also, he does it in the kitchen, where anyone can discover him, as his dad (Eugene Levy) does. It's a gag that doesn't work because it's not believable.

The cast is large and appealing, though it's once again interesting to see the career trajectories of those involved. Some of the cast sank into oblivion, while Alyson Hannigan (she of band camp) went on to be a fairly big TV star. I liked Eddie Kaye Thomas as Finch, the kid who tries to be sophisticated and won't take a shit at school. Sean William Scott is Stifler, the raging id, who was around for a while but I haven't heard from in a while. Tara Reid became more famous for her off-camera antics, while Chris Klein, who had two movies that year with Election, has steadily worked since then but did not hit stardom. Chris Owen, who was also in She's All That, was seen working as a waiter at a sushi restaurant.

American Pie launches a whole series of films, and only Owen and Levy were in them all. I find the scenes with Levy, as the dad who wants to be sensitive to his son's sexual awakening but manages to embarrass him, as the most endearing. His little speech about masturbation and its various euphemisms are terrific. This film, that was so shocking in its time, what with someone drinking a beer with semen in it, seems quaint now.