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Dom Robinson reviews
There’s something about your first piece.
Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: UDR 90048
- Cert: 15
- Running time: 92 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 18 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Cast and Filmmakers’ Notes, Trailer, Spotlight on Location,Out-takes, Audio Commentary, DVD-ROM content, Classic Quotes, Production Notes,Music Highlights, Animated Menus
Director:
- Paul Weitz
(American Pie)
Producers:
- Warren Zide, Craig Perry, Chris Moore and Chris Weitz
Screenplay:
- Adam Herz
Music:
- David Lawrence
Cast:
- Jim: Jason Biggs (American Pie, TV: As the World Turns, Drexell’s Class, Total Security)
Victoria “Vicky” Lathum: Tara Reid (American Pie, The Big Lebowski, Cruel Intentions, Girl, I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, The Night Before, A Return To Salem’s Lot, Urban Legend)
Heather: Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie, Kiss the Girls, Live Virgin, Nowhere, The Rage: Carrie 2, Slums of Beverly Hills, TV: Chicago Hope, E.R.)
Jim’s Dad: Eugene Levy (American Pie, Father of the Bride Parts 1 & 2, Multiplicity, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Nothing Personal, Once Upon a Crime…, Splash!, Stay Tuned, TV: Mad About You)
American Pieis an American high-school sex comedy about four teenage nerds and their ultimate goal:to lose their cherry before school’s out. However, it has to be via consensual sex andnot with a hooker.
First up is Jim (Jason Biggs) who isn’t quite up to it when he gets his callingand has unfortunate mishaps, first with an apple pie and then over the internet with agirl in his class, sex-pot Nadia Shannon Elizabeth, but he may just get to make it up withnerdy, flute-playing Michelle (Alyson Hannigan); Oz (Chris Klein) joins the choirclass to chat up Heather (American Beauty‘s Mena Suvari); Kevin (Thomas IanNicholas) is dating the gorgeous Vicky (Tara Reid) and teaches her the secretsof the “tongue tornado” after reading the legendary “sex bible” that is passed on throughthe generations at his school; and finally there’s Paul (Eddie Kaye Thomas), whoseems to have a reputation with the ladies that none of his friends can understand becausethey only know him as the guy who refuses to take a dump in the school toilet and know whenit’s time as he disappears for another “16-minute round trip”.
The film also takes in the concept of the “father-son chat”, the legendary partiesthrown by Steve Stifler (Seann W. Scott) and a term I’ve never heard before thatsome guys apply to the woman that gave birth to him: M.I.L.F. – “Mom, I’d love to fuck”.
The picture is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio with no obvious artifacts, but itdoes look a little dark overall which is odd. The average bitrate is anexcellent 9.8Mb/s.
The sound is good too and presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but is mostly used forthe pop tunes that denote the teenage youth, such as Third Eye Blind‘s “Semi-CharmedLife” and The Barenaked Ladies‘ “One Week”, but no version of Don McLean‘stitular offering.
Extras : Chapters/Trailer :Only 18 chapters but two more than the usual Universal-via-Columbia offering, so coulduse more. The theatrical trailer is also included. Languages/Subtitles :Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and subtitles for the same language. And there’s more… :The Out-takes last two-and-a-half minutes and are just that, but also feature’work in progress’ shots and the other “sex with pie” version which, as far as I know,is the only change to the “American Pie: Unseen” video that was hyped when it was putout for sale.
Spotlight on Location is a ten-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, with a typicalmade-for-TV approach mixing clips with comments from the cast and crew, but should only be watchedafter you’ve seen the film as it gives away some of the key comedy moments. Music Highlights does exactly what it says on the tin allowing access to snippets ofall 22 songs featured in the movie with its own menu. Want to hear that classic line of dialogueagain? Check out the Classic Quotes section with 20 brief snippets such as
- “What exactly does third base feel like?”
“Like warm apple pie”
However, for some weird reason they tend to cut out right before the very end, often losingthe last word or two. “Like warm…”, anyone?
Cast and Filmmakers’ Notes provides biogs and filmogs for the director and all themain cast members, thus is very comprehensive. The Production Notes also gives youmore information about the film. The DVD-ROM content adds to this, repeating some of theabove, plus more info on the crew and a listing of the soundtrack album.
A feature-length Audio Commentary track is included with notonly chat from director Paul Weitz, but also his brother and co-producer Chris Weitz,writer Adam Herz and cast members Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jason Biggs andSeann W. Scott.
Worthy of note too is that most of the extras feature English subtitles too,although the audio commentary doesn’t.
Menu :An excellent main menu with animation mocking the internet section of the film (I’llsay no more – you’ll have to see it to believe it) and some incidental music from thefilm.
Overall, a great comedy that’s well worth seeing – and the debut for the writer-producerWeitz brothers – with an almost-perfect picture and lots of extras, as many as theRegion 1 DVD in fact.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.