American Pie Presents Band Camp
Like everyone else in the
world, I thought the American Pie series was over, but here goes
another go round. Of course, almost all of the original characters are
long gone. Only three supporting roles are still here from the original
trilogy. Perhaps that explains why it has come out straight to video.
The main character is Matt
Stifler (Tad Hilgenbrink), the younger brother of Seann William Scott's
breakout cretin. Of course, Matt has grown so much in the six years since the
original film that it is nearly impossible to tell if the same actor is playing
the role (it isn't; the original two films had Eli Marienthal as "Stifler's
Brother."). Hilgenbrink looks vaguely like Scott and acts just like
him, though, so the new casting fits.
Nerdy supporting character
Sherman "The Shermanator" (Chris Owen)
also does pop up in an unconvincing cameo as the new high school guidance
counselor. (According to the timeline of the movies, Sherman is only
out of high school for about three or four years -- how exactly did he get this gig?)
However, most importantly,
and again not quite logically, Eugene Levy returns in his brilliant role as
"Jim's Dad." Of course, Jim is nowhere to be found and Jim's Dad had
nothing with the Band Camp, so you sort of wonder why he's here, but
I'm still happy to see him anytime. (It is vaguely explained off that
Jim's wife had the band camp job but got knocked up so Jim's Dad stepped
in.) Levy is not given much to do here, but he's always hilarious.
Truthfully, American
Pie Presents Band Camp is a better film than American Wedding,
and probably about as good as the second film in the series. None of the
three sequels can even approach the fantastic original film, though.
In fact, the whole of American Pie Presents Band Camp is not even as
funny or surprising as Alyson Hannigan's single joke about Band Camp in the
original film. But the movie is still amusing in it's own lightweight
way.
The biggest problem is the
main character. Matt Stifler is a complete and total asshole, which
makes it hard to root for him to win the girl, make new friends and capture
the band camp Olympics cup. Granted, his older brother
was an asshole, too, but the older Stifler was never the lead character. It's okay to
have a jerk in a supporting role. It's harder to take when he's the
chief focus.
Matt idolizes his absentee
brother, who somehow in the two years since American Wedding has
become the rich and famous producer of a series of Girls Gone Wild-type
DVDs. Matt desperately wants to join "the family business." He
also is constantly horny. When a practical joke gone bad gets him
sentenced to a summer in band camp, Matt remembers Jim's stories of the
place as a sexual bacchanal and decides to clandestinely videotape the
sexual goings on.
He has a lot to choose from
-- the counselors are played by a bunch of former Playmates, the nurse is
80s porn star Ginger Lynn Allen. Stifler also gets into a
feud with the snobbish rich jerk who leads the rival band. This leads to a
whole series of the standard jokes of the series -- netcam shots of naked
girls, unlikely sexual pairings, simulated masturbation with musical
instruments, massive vomiting and the drinking of bodily fluids.
Still, Stifler is surprised
to find himself drawn to the nice band girl Elyse
(played by Arielle Kebbel, who had previously played the wife of Rory's
married lover in Gilmore Girls, and is easily the most likable actor here
-- as well as being a
dead-ringer for a young Mandy Moore). Elyse eventually sees though "the Stiffmeister's" jerky exterior to find his soft, sensitive core.
(Congratulations to her, I didn't see it...)
Their romance seems rather
unlikely, but Kebbel's character is so sweet and trusting that you do hope
for her sake that Stifler will get his act together, stop being a prick and
help the underdogs win the big band-off. Anyone who has ever seen one
of these movies knows how it all will end, but it's still worth the ride
getting there.
(12/05)
Jay S.
Jacobs
