A Reunion

Frequent readers of my blog know that I am an unabashed American Pie enthusiast, so let's not waste any time with a build up, or a fancy intro and get right down the most important question of the new film in the canon, American Reunion: how does the film hold up in terms of my ongoing exploration of its themes of authenticity versus artifice?

But first, a review of the film – Reunion is based around the 13-year high school reunion for the East Great Falls class (don't worry about why it's the 13^th, it's callously explained away with one line of dialogue, so let's not dwell too much on that one particular). Jim and Michelle have settled into a comfortable (read: sexless) marriage with kid, Kevin has a beard and a wife, but appears to be kind of restless with both, Oz has gone on to be a hammy sports show host and a former runner up on a “Dancing with the Stars” type show who is apparently discontent with his raunchy blond girlfriend, Finch has just returned from some sort of globe-trotting adventure, Stifler is a door stop intern at some sort of finance or law firm (maybe even both), Vicky has been living in New York since high school working at something (possible art related), Heather is now a doctor (I guess), Jessica is a lesbian, Milf Guy #2 (seriously how he is listed on IMDb) is organizing the reunion, Jim's Dad is now a widower, Stiffler's Mom is still a milf, I guess, and the Sherminator is divorced.

If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is, and while the formula of having multiple protagonists engaged in their own particular conquests worked in the first film quite well, here it feels a little too much. The difference is that while in Pie there were four protagonists all engaged in their own escapades, the goal was the same for all of them: lose your virginity. Here, everyone has a problem, but everyone's problem is different. (Though surprising, and also maybe refreshing, is a real dearth of sentimentality for “days past” - it's there mind you, but it's cooly minimal. And even more surprising, it's not Kevin dealing with it.) And the whole desire to get the entire band back together for the big finale (choke on this – the theatrical Pie releases now form a Quadrilogy), there's a few too many things going on here at once for the audience to feel concerned or even particularly interested in any of them, and as a result the things that should have some emotional resonance don't.

Now what I find unique about this series is how it exists in a fairly small category of films that explore what it's like for a group of friends to have grown up with from each other, to actually watch a friendship evolve. Other singular films have explored a moment, but this is a unique franchise where we can actually watch that evolution occur. This is particularly difficult for comedies, because a lot of that genre's function predicates on the maintenance of peculiar points-of-view or situations. Could you imagine a 40-Year-Old-Virgin 2? You'd have to get a new virgin. Just look at the backlash to Hangover 2; it is very hard to create a same character sequel without just retreading the same ground.

Now, on to my continuing argument regarding authenticity versus artifice: it's here. Oz is discontent obviously because he abandoned the “real” thing he had with Heather. His new life feels like a farce, because it so obviously hangs on him like a poorly tailored suit, particularly in the way he glumly reacts to people recognizing him for his “Dancing” appearance. Finch has been actually lying about his world traveling (which makes me wonder about the similar claims in Pie 2), a lie that actually lands him in jail. What is probably the most glaring evidence of technology being a crutch is when Stiffler tries the old our-car-broke-down-can-we-come-in-and-use-your-phone, and the wary homeowner inquires why the boys don't have cell phones. Stiffler's response is as succinct as could be desired: “The last time I did this cell phones didn't exist.”

Jim and Michelle are sexually frustrated because of their child, which isn't being honest to each other (in addition to the pre-title sequence built around watching porn on the internet and a bathtub water wand that I already discussed in my article about the trailer, they also try a little bondage as before the end of act II to spice things up). What should be the most important factor though, is the guys needing to be honest about where they are in life; they can't stay up drinking all night, they can't party and tussle with high school age kids, and they are grown up now (maybe the fact that this isn't really a big issue demonstrates how well matured everyone is?) so they can't really have shenanigans because responsibility, that's why. Hell I'm starting to think the screenwriters read my blog (Hey Jon and Hayden!), because the antagonistic high school kids show up on jet skis to antagonize people . But in a positive approval of a non-technology, Luddite stance, the fun, carefree, high-school Bacchanalia takes place at “the Falls”, an unstructured series of bonfires, beer coolers, and camp chairs gathered around a beach and waterfall. It's honestly gotten to the point where I can't think of a scene that doesn't bristle with a condemnation of technology. (I may have issues.)

Still this movie met all expectations, it just seems unfortunate that they were so eager to include a catch-up with everyone that the narrative suffered from an over-burdening. They had managed to bring everyone back for the second film, but it should be pointed out that Oz's story was practically non-existent, Finch and Kevin had very “B” stories, and Stifler didn't have an issue – he was just an instigator, a role that Seann William Scott excels at. The second and third films are really Jim's movies. We do get some nicely pleasant moments with the gang all back together, and this is a group of friends that I, for one, do enjoy spending time with.

American Pie versus Technology, Part 1

The late 90's were an interesting time for the Internet – it was no longer a novelty, but it hadn't yet found its niche; most of the users of the internet found that it was useful for emails and pictures of naked women (remember that back in these days, few, if any, people had anything more than a 56k connection, so anything more than pictures or very short videos was largely out the question) and little else. Back in 1999, if you will remember, was the age before YouTube (not until 2005), Facebook (2004), MySpace (2003), or even Friendster (2002). Even Napster wasn't operational until 1999, so the years prior were a very untested time for the internet. Very little content had yet to be ported onto the web, for example it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwith as the entire internet in 2000. Even movies hadn't really decided what to make of the internet – only a handful of films even used the internet: “The Net” (1995) and “Hackers” (1996) being the more notable ones. The former envisioned a world where we were so disconnected by our digital selves that others could substitute themselves in for us, and a powerful computer program allows a well resourced group to control information. The latter promotes the web as a wild west, where information is the weapon, and a few rebellious hackers can use it to help protect the world from a powerful corporation. Both films extol information and the web that harbors it as a powerful tool, but in both cases any attempts to pigeon hole it as whole cloth bad, are countered by the fact that the internet is eventually used to win the day. Indeed, tech up to this point is merely a tool like a gun or a bomb – in the right hands, deadly, but useful when used responsibly.

It would therefore seem unlikely to find a powerful anti-technology statement in the film “American Pie” (1999) - but the film is surprisingly, and subtly, a condemnation of the permeation of technology in our lives. (That the film came out in the same year as three movies that all took stabs at the encroachment of technology and the potential for being dominated by it - “The Matrix” (1999), “Existenz” (1999), and “The Thirteenth Floor” (1999) shows that clearly by this point we were prepared to make statements about technology and networks and their power.) Indeed the three entries in the trilogy - “Pie”, “American Pie 2” (2001), and “American Wedding” (2003), take a staunchly anti-technology stance, more so than any other film previous or since. “Pie” and its successors, in fact take a far more Luddist view of technology than even “The Matrix”.

Every instance of technology that appears in the film (and the series as a whole) is associated with embarrassment and humiliation – even from the opening shot: a lone Jim sits in his bedroom, attempting to masturbate to scrambled-cable porn, he is quickly discovered by his parents – as a direct result of his attempts to use technology over bedding a non-digital woman. Indeed, Jim suffers the most as a result of his interactions with technology: during the first montage, where the four friends are organizing to lose their virginity, Jim uses an internet dating profile to get a prom date, and receives no responses. And of course, during the longest sequence in the film, Jim sets up a web feed to catch video of Nadia undressing is his bedroom, which then leads to his eventual embarrassment as he unknowingly sends the link to his entire school (the undressing ultimately becomes a chance sexual encounter with Nadia when Jim enters the room where she is undressed) – exponentially increasing his damage at using technology. The filmmakers make such a statement about how wrong this use of technology is that it is brought up by a high school party-goer in the beginning of the second film; indeed this incident has followed Jim well beyond his first year in college.

Similarly, the centerpiece sequence in the film's sequel is set around an increasing intimacy scene with two (alleged) lesbians, that again becomes broadcast, this time over walkie talkies. Another incident in the second act of the sequel comes as an attack from tech again – while watching a porn VHS, Jim inadvertently super-glues himself to himself while masturbating. In the opening scene of “Wedding”, Jim mishandles a wedding proposal, which leads to him receiving fellatio from Michelle in a crowded restaurant – which while not a direct result of tech, is notable because just before this act, Jim receives a phone call on his cell phone from his father, and now this highly common tech serves as a harbinger, signaling the embarrassment to come. And again in the third entry, he uses an electric shaver to shave his pubic region and peppers most of the wedding planning crew with his discarded pubic hair – becoming increasingly the victim of increasingly simpler technology. In fact, it may be his over-reliance on technology that makes him suffer the most; in an early scene in the original he is explaining to a fellow party-goer that he should be able to talk to women, because he got a “1600 on the SAT's”. Now while the SAT itself is arguably not a technological achievement, it represents a modern advancement into standardized testing and evaluation. He should know better, because in the AP universe, technology may not be mortal or even morbid, but it is the cause of humiliation. Even a startlingly good score does not help him lose his virginity or with his capacity to even talk to women. His excellent score on a modern evaluative method does not equal good social grace.