After about ten minutes into the new American Pie update, American Reunion, you might start wondering, does anyone seriously care whether we revisit these characters or not?  Despite the commercial success of the first couple of films – we won’t mention those straight to DVD features – none of the teenagers, now adults, were particularly great characters to begin with.     

There’s no actual plot to Reunion; there’s a setup, then a series of escapades, some amusing, some lame, some really lame.  This time around, all the characters from the previous films converge back to East Great Falls for one long weekend ending with their high-school reunion.  That’s the setup.  What follows is a series of short episodes revolving around getting drunk, having sex, or not being able to have sex because of getting too drunk.  We have to suppose the film’s target audience will know what to expect, it’s just a shame it doesn’t try to be something more, particularly as these characters are no longer high-schoolers and should now have an average age of thirty-two.

The good news for those who have enjoyed the series is that everyone, both male and female, are here - even those who were not particularly good performers in the first place - though most of it revolves around the men.  The women act as either support, objects of desire or they’re reduced to a quick walk-on role.

Jason Biggs returns as Jim – he’s the one who turned the apple pie into a cobbler in the original – and he’s feeling the pain of adulthood and a marriage that has become sexless since the arrival of the first child.  Once I realized who Jim had married – it was the band-camp girl, Alyson Hannigan – I suddenly thought how helpful it might have been had the opening credits used snaps of these characters as a re-introduction, reminding us of who was who and what their relationship was to each other.  Throughout the film several characters refer to things of the past as if we should all have instant recall.  Instead, the snapshots are used during the closing credits, which isn’t quite as helpful.

The one character that actually seems alive is the relentlessly crass and obnoxious Stifler.  Seann William Scott manages the impossible; he breathes life into this objectionable idiot to absolute perfection. You can’t help but admire him.  His ceaseless vulgarity is so pure, delivered by an energy that never quits, he literally manages to make his fellow classmates appear positively dull. 

Stifler aside, there are a couple of other saving graces.  Neil Patrick Harris drops in as a TV Celebrity Dance-Off host, Rebecca De Mornay makes a surprise visit to the reunion as Finch’s blonde bombshell mom who finally gives Stifler’s uneventful life some meaning, and comic veterans Eugene Levy as Jim’s dad and Jennifer Coolidge as Stifler’s mom share one very funny scene right at the end of the film involving intimacy in a darkened movie theater and a bucket of popcorn.  It’s the one scene in the whole film that actually showed a moment of creativity with its crudeness.

 MPAA Rating: R      Length:  100 minutes       Overall Rating:  5 (out of 10)