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Dom Robinson reviews
Universal Pictures Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 8211725
- Running time: 99 minutes
- Year: 2003
- Pressing: 2004
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Hindi
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party, Stifler Speak, Grooming theGroom, Deleted scenes, Outtakes, Cheesy Wedding Video, Nikki’s Hollywood Video,Audio commentaries
Director:
- Jesse Dylan
(American Pie: The Wedding, How High)
Producers:
- Chris Bender, Adam Herz, Warren Zide, Craig Perry and Chris Moore
Screenplay:
- Adam Herz
Music:
- Christophe Beck
Cast:
- Jim: Jason Biggs
Stiffler: Seann William Scott
Michelle: Alyson Hannigan
Finch: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Kevin: Thomas Ian Nicholas
Cadence Flaherty: January Jones
Jim’s Dad: Eugene Levy
Jim’s Mom: Molly Cheek
Mary Flaherty: Deborah Rush
Harold Flaherty: Fred Willard
Grandma: Angela Paton
Bear: Eric Allan Kramer
Fraulein Brandi: Amanda Swisten
Officer Krystal: Nikki Schieler Ziering
Head Coach: Lawrence Pressman
Stifler’s Mom: Jennifer Coolidge
The happy couple…
American Pie: The Weddingfocuses on.. a wedding between the two characters that got it together at theend of the lacklustre second film,which had a few moments but wasn’t as consistent as theoriginal.
As this third one began I had my reservations with a blowjob scene in arestaurant as it didn’t quite ring true at first, but it soon slipped backinto the style we were accustomed to at the start of the trilogy. However,while there are a few more classic scenes than there were in No.2 (probablyabout double the three that one had), it still has an awful lot of padding andthe wedding itself, between Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (AlysonHannigan) is just a device to create an extra ‘piece of pie’ forwant of a better way to say ‘third film’ again, with the ‘pie’ becominga cake, in a scene just before the wedding.
The basic plot, such that it is, is that Stifler (Seann William Scott)can only come to the wedding and plan the bachelor party if he helps Jimlearn how to dance so he can give Michelle the wedding of her dreams. Youwouldn’t have thought it, but Stifler was forced by his mother to do threeyears of dance class and now it’s going to pay off.
It has to be said that at first, there is a great great bachelor party withtwo naked dominatrices (Amanda Swisten and Nikki Schieler Ziering)but once some uninivited guests turn up things falla little flat for a while. Elsewhere, and for the better, both Finch (EddieKaye Thomas) and Stifler are vying to get Michelle’s sister Cadence (JanuaryJones) in the sack, and Stifler also gets way out of his depth in a gaybar, going for a gay dance-off with one of the regulars, to the tunes of MichaelSembello’s Maniac and Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven is a Place on Earth.
Stifler also has an accident with the ring… Yes, there’s a lot of Stifflerhere, even compared to Jim who’s not in it so much albeit enough to get thepoint of the wedding across.
I also have to add that there’s the unexplained disapperance of some charactersfrom the first two films, namely Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), Oz (ChrisKlein), Jessica (Natasha Lyonne), Vicky (Tara Reid) andHeather (Mena Suvari).
…while Stiffler meets more than a mere MILF!
The picture is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen ratio with aslight stuttery appearance at time, which can be distracting. It’s not oftenyou get a comedy that’s presented in such a wide ratio, particularly sincethe first two were both in 1.85:1 and this is the kind of movie which lendsitself mainly to home viewings. Since it was shot in Super 35, it’s possiblethat a suitable 16:9 print can be struck from the negative when it gets shownendlessly on TV in years to come.
Sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 only. The sequel had a DTS 5.1 option, but thenthis series has, sonically, focussed mainly on pop tunes that denote the teenageyouth such as Foo Fighters, Feeder, Sugababes, Groove Armada and evena snatch of Badly Drawn Boy. Sadly, there’s also a dreadfully anodynecover of James‘ Laid by Matt Nathanson, which is alsoused as the theme tune!
The original DVD, the sequel and the boxset.
Let me get one thing straight before moving on to the extras. What I don’tlike about a DVD, and a number of them do it, is those which, when left on amenu, without further intervention go back to the main menu or even start afilm. Until I press something, I don’t want the DVD to move – particularlywhen I’ve left it for a minute and it’s getting late and then it starts blaringout. Why do DVD companies do this?!
Rant over. The extras are as follows:
- Delete and extended scenes (22 mins):12 of them, mostly introduced by writer/producer Adam Herz, and all justdragging scenes out even longer so you can see why they were cut. All thefootage is in 2.35:1 letterbox.
- Outttakes (6 mins):Does exactly what it says on the tin.
- Stifler Speak (7 mins):The most popular character and the weird way he talks, in pairing innocentwords with rude ones.
- Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party (10 mins):Nikki (Schieler) Ziering goes behind the scenes for this particular scene,including interview snippets and a brainstorming session on how to go about it.
- Grooming the Groom (6½ mins):Without giving anything away, this is what led up to the scene involving acake instead of a pie.
- Cheesy Wedding Video (3 mins):For those who wanted to see the romance without the comedy.
- Nikki’s Hollywood Video (10 mins):More behind-the-scenes footage with the plastic-breasted blonde.
- Audio commentaries:One from director Jesse Dylan and Seann William Scott, with the second fromJason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Thomas Ian Nicholas.
So, some reasonable extras but all ones you’ll only watch once. Hence, if,like me, you were disappointed with the sequel and want to see how thingspan out in the finale, this would be just worth a rental only.
Subtitles are in English only, there are 28 chapters and the menu featuresclips from the film with that awful cover of Laid, which replays thesame bit a few times over before starting the film again whether you wantedit to or not.
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.