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Dom Robinson reviews
This summer it’s all about sticking together.
Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: UDR 90151
- Cert: 15
- Running time: 104 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 18 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Hindi
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: The Baking of American Pie 2, Outtakes, Deleted Scenes,3 Doors Down music video, Your Favourite Piece of Pie, Classic Quotes, MusicHighlights, Theatrical trailer, Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers,DVD-ROM features, Four audio commentaries
Director:
- J.B. Rogers
(American Pie 2, Say It Isn’t So)
Producers:
- Warren Zide, Craig Perry and Chris Moore
Screenplay:
- Adam Herz
Music:
- David Lawrence
Cast:
- Jim: Jason Biggs
Nadia: Shannon Elizabeth
Michele: Alyson Hannigan
Oz: Chris Klein
Stiffler: Seann William Scott
Jessica: Natasha Lyonne
Kevin: Thomas Ian Nicholas
Vicky: Tara Reid
Heather: Mena Suvari
Finch: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Jim’s Dad: Eugene Levy
Sherman: Chris Owen
Danielle: Denise Faye
Amber: Lisa Arturo
Stifler’s Mom: Jennifer Coolidge
American Pie 2sees the return of the four teenage nerds from the first film after a yearon after they’ve finish their first year of college and head down to the beachat Grand Harbor for the summer to work and get laid, accompanied by the manwho throws the best parties in town.
Jim’s (Jason Biggs) still the main man who isn’t getting much but hasthe prospect of the return of Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) to come at theend of the summer. He’s still got the hots for nerdy, flute-playing Michele(Alyson Hannigan – Willow inBuffy the Vampire Slayer)who’s now teaching flute class, but has some bad news for him.
Oz (Chris Klein) is still being a one-woman man for Heather(American Beauty‘sMena Suvari); Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) has an on-off relationshipwith the gorgeous Vicky (Tara Reid) and is planning a massive party bythe end of the summer, while Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is up onBuddhist prophecies and tantric sex.
Of course, there’s still tension between him and Stiffler (Seann William Scott)since the former slept with the latter’s mother in the first film and this actsas a plot device for the two to play off each other during their summer trip.
Classic scenes here include an early one where Stiffler gets accidently pissedon, a momentary slip when Jim finds Michele sticking a trumpet up his assand a brilliant lesbian scene. Sadly, such scenes are few and far betweenand you realise that there’s just not as many comedic moments this time roundand that it’s more like just an extension to the first film, set a year laterbut for all the difference it makes it may as well be the next day (but,thankfully, not likePorky’s II: The Next Day)and it doesn’t seem as fresh as the original film. No doubt it’ll make a mintand will lead to a third film, which I’ll certainly watch but not with as muchanticipation as this one.
Raindrops keep falling on his head…
The picture is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio with anoverly dark look. Scenes that are outside in the daytime don’t look brightenough. They look as if they were shot in early evening as opposed to aroundearly morning or midday. All other scenes are affected similarly.
The sound is fine and in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, but is mostlyused for the pop tunes that denote the teenage youth, such as Sum 41‘sFat Lip, Alien Ant Farm‘s Smooth Criminal andWeezer‘s Hash Pipe.
The original DVD, the sequel and the boxset.
The extras begin with a 24-minute made-for-TV special, The Baking ofAmerican Pie 2, with all the usual suspects on display talking about thefilm and it being interspersed with clips in letterboxed 1.85:1 widescreen.In fact, all the extras are letterboxed and not anamorphic, apart from the’classic quotes’.
The Out-takes section runs for 5½ minutes and is a combinationof genuine out-takes and the cast messing about. There are 7 Deleted Scenes(11 mins), but not all deserved to be put back in. Those that did are the one of Finchmeditating while a girl called Sandra tries to get his attention and thelibrary scene, which was highlighted in the trailer. A band I’ve never heardof before, 3 Doors Down, provide a music video, Be Like That.which is a bit too soft and slow for my tastes and doesn’t differentiate fromanything that’s gone before.
Your Favourite Piece of Pie is a series of 10 best clips from bothfilms including the aforementioned scenes above, as well as a few from thefirst one such as the internet scene, the sex with the pie, Finch gettingdiarrhoea and Jim with the sock on. The Classic Quotes section worksjust like the first DVD. For example, selecting:
- “Brilliant, you found lesbians.”
becomes “Brilliant, you found le…”, because for some weird reasonthey tend to cut out right before the very end, often losingthe last word or two.
The Music Highlights section helpfully tells you which tunes were usedin the film and where, so you can easily remember what they sounded like.The Theatrical trailer runs for over 3 minutes and is introduced byJason Biggs as well as featuring footage not included in the finalversion.
On top of this you have the usual Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakersnotes, some DVD-ROM features and Four audio commentariesare also available: director J.B. Rogers; writer AdamHerz; cast members Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Thomas Ian Nicholas; and finallycast member Eddie Kaye Thomas.
Worthy of note too is that most of the extras feature English subtitles tooincluding the audio commentaries. The only other subtitled language, strangely,is Hindi, but this is only for the film. The menus are all static and containshort, looped, incidental music pieces.
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.