American Pie (film)
| American Pie | |
|---|---|
| File:American pie poster.jpg Theatrical poster for American Pie | |
| Directed by | Paul Weitz Chris Weitz |
| Written by | Adam Herz |
| Produced by | Chris Moore Chris Weitz |
| Starring | Jason Biggs Seann William Scott Shannon Elizabeth Alyson Hannigan Eugene Levy |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | July 9, 1999 |
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$11,000,000 |
| Box office | US$235,483,004 [1] |
American Pie is a 1999 teen comedy film directed by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz and written by Adam Herz. This was the first film directed by the Weitz brothers and the first of the American Pie series. The movie is centered on four boys who make a pact to lose their virginity by their high school graduation, and their subsequent adventures. As the theatrical poster implies, the title of the movie refers to a scene in the film in which the lead character is caught masturbating with a pie after earlier being told that "third base" feels "like warm apple pie". It was a box-office hit and spawned two direct sequels: American Pie 2 in 2001, American Wedding in 2003. Singer Don McLean was credited for allowing the name of his hit song to be used as the title.
This film ranked number 49 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", and ranked number 22 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted American Pie the 6th greatest comedy film of all time.
Since the conclusion of the American Pie trilogy, featuring the courtship and marriage of Jim Levenstein and Michelle Flaherty, the American Pie name has gone on to be used as an entity similar to National Lampoon. The American Pie entity has spawned three spin-off films: American Pie Presents: Band Camp, which was a direct to video release in 2005, and American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile was released on DVD in December 2006. The latest film, American Pie Presents: Beta House was released in 2007.
Plot
American Pie is the story of four Michigan high school seniors who make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation after a geeky classmate, Chuck Sherman (Chris Owen) claims to have done so at a party at Steve Stifler's (Seann William Scott) house.
Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), the initiator of the pact, tries to repair his relationship with his girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid) after she has a serious fight with him at the party when she believes he hooked up with her only for sex. Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein), who is on the school lacrosse team with Stifler, joins the jazz choir to pick up girls, as the girls there know little of his insensitive jock reputation. Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), the mochaccino-drinking sophisticate, pays Vicky's friend Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) $200 to spread rumors of his sexual prowess, hoping that will increase his chances of success. Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) pursues Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), an exchange student from (former) Czechoslovakia. She comes to his house to study with him, and has to change clothes there after ballet practice, so Stifler convinces Jim to set up a webcam so they can all watch her change. Jim runs over to Kevin's house to watch. Once he gets there, Nadia is seen on the computer discovering his pornography collection hiding in his dresser, and instead of finding it offensive, she begins looking through it while masturbating (this scene ranked #10 in the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments). Kevin urges Jim to run back home, saying this is his best opportunity. Jim arrives, and Nadia orders him to strip; meanwhile, it turns out that he had incorrectly addressed the e-mail to Kevin and Stifler, so instead of the link being sent to only his two friends, every mailbox in the school directory received the link; virtually the entire student body (and Blink-182 as Jim's classmates) is watching. As Jim slowly caresses her leg up to her genitals, he then climaxes prematurely. As Nadia is about to leave, he convinces her to stay, but upon seeing her nude and touching her pubic area, he climaxes prematurely again, humiliating himself before the entire school. In desperation, Jim asks band geek Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) to the senior prom, as she is apparently the only girl in the entire school who does not know what happened.
Finch, meanwhile, has his own troubles. Stifler, angry that a girl turned him down for the prom because she was holding out for Finch, puts a laxative into Finch's mochaccino. Unable to do his usual routine of heading home to use the toilet (Finch is paranoid about the lack of cleanliness in the school restrooms), Stifler directs him into the girls' restroom, for him to emerge before all of the other students, humiliated and left dateless.
At the prom, everything seems hopeless for the four boys until Vicky asks the girl that Sherman claimed to have bedded about her "first time". She gets even by proclaiming to the entire prom that she and Sherman did not have sex at Stifler's party, humiliating him and making him wet his pants. The revelation takes the pressure off of Jim, Kevin, Oz and Finch, and they head to the post-prom party with new hope.
At the party at Stifler's house after the prom, all four boys fulfill the pledge. Kevin and Vicky have sex in an upstairs bedroom, but the act is very awkward. Vicky breaks up with him afterward on the grounds that they will be too far apart in college, with him at Michigan and her at Ithaca. Oz confesses the pact to Heather (Mena Suvari), a girl from the jazz choir, and renounces it, saying that just being together with her made him a winner. They fall in love, begin a relationship, and end up making love on the porch, but the reformed Oz never admits that they did. Finch strays downstairs to the recreation room where he meets Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge). She is aroused by his maturity, and they have sex on a pool table. Stifler finds them together in the morning and faints. Jim and Michelle have sex after he finds out that she saw the "Nadia incident" after all. She accepted the date because of it, knowing he was a "sure thing", but she makes him wear two condoms to combat his earlier "problem" with Nadia. Jim is, to put it mildly, rather surprised by Michelle's unexpectedly aggressive behavior in bed ("Say my name, bitch!"). In the morning he wakes up to find her gone, an inflatable dinosaur in her place. Essentially, she used him for what is generally called a one-night stand (which Jim thinks is "cool").
The morning after prom, Jim, Kevin, Oz, and Finch eat at their favorite restaurant, Dog Years, where they toast to "the next step."
In an epilogue, Jim is shown communicating with Nadia via webcam and dancing.
Characters
 | This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (August 2008) |
- Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) - Jim is the main character, and easily has the worst luck out of all the characters, being always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is obsessed with sexual intercourse, and is frequently caught in some kind of embarrassing sexual act, most often by his father. He makes a pact with Kevin, Oz, and Finch to lose his virginity before he graduates. After a humiliating experience with a beautiful foreign exchange student, Nadia, he asks a band geek, Michelle, to the prom, has sex with her and marries her in American Wedding. His last name was first revealed in American Pie 2.
- Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) - Kevin's last name was revealed to be Myers in American Pie 2. Kevin is the leader of the group, and creates the laid-before-prom-night pact with Jim, Oz, and Finch. He is a loving boyfriend to Vicky, with whom he has gotten as far as only third base. He wants to have sex with her in an honest and romantic way but is afraid to say the word love. He and Vicky eventually break up, not wanting to have to go through with a long distance relationship. It is Kevin's older brother Tom (played in an uncredited role by Casey Affleck) who gives him the Sex Bible, and suggests that the group go to the lake house in American Pie 2. In American Wedding, it is revealed that he has a girlfriend, though her identity is never revealed.
- Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein) - Oz is a stereotypical jock who is not as good with women as he thinks. When he makes the pact to lose his virginity, he meets and falls in love with a choir girl named Heather. His friendly and sensitive side emerges from the whole experience, and it leads to him having a serious relationship with Heather, consummated at the post-prom party. He continues his relationship in American Pie 2 with Heather. He is absent from American Wedding.
- Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) - Finch is an intelligent sophisticate who enters the pact to lose his virginity. He hires Jessica to spread good rumors about him, and soon has a big reputation, which is quickly lost after a diarrhea incident in the girls bathroom, caused by Stifler. Finch soon gets revenge on Stifler by having sex with Stifler's beautiful and oversexed mother. Throughout the series, he waits to see Stifler's mother again, and has sex with her at the end of all three movies. He is enemies with Stifler, who calls him "Shit Break" due to his unusual defecation habits. This is sometimes confused for "shit brick".
- Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) - He refers to himself as the "Stiffmeister". He is popular mostly because he throws great parties and he is another star of the lacrosse team. He causes a multitude of problems for the other characters, and seems to hate everybody, especially Finch. He is a bad influence on his younger brother Matt (Eli Marienthal), who, while much younger, has a similar personality to his older brother. Stifler's vocabulary consists usually of sex talk, crude and/or sexual insults, and any more general profanities. Stifler matures somewhat in American Wedding, after accidentally wrecking all the flowers for the wedding he feels compelled to make amends and fix things by enlisting the football team he coaches and a florist in an all night session to replace them. He is frequently the victim of "gross-out" moments, most commonly the unintentional consumption of some bodily secretion (semen in American Pie, urine in American Pie 2, and dog feces in American Wedding). Continuing the family tradition, his brother Matt (played by Tad Hilgenbrink) consumes saliva in American Pie Presents: Band Camp along with his cousins Dwight and Erik Stifler in American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile and American Pie Presents: Beta House. It is also revealed in Band Camp that while his family's houses were the venue of some of the school's biggest parties, many students often do not want anything to do with Stifler.
- Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) An eccentric, jolly "nerd" who has many annoying stories about her experiences at band camp (a running gag within the movie). She first shocks Jim with the line: "And this one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy", and proves to be very sexually adventurous. She goes to the prom with Jim, they fall in love and they eventually marry in American Wedding. In American Pie Presents: Band Camp, Mr. Levenstein reveals that she's pregnant.
- Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) - A tall sexy girl from what is referred to as Czechoslovakia (it is not clear whether she is from Czech Republic or Slovakia, as Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993, six years before the time of the movie), with whom Jim nearly has his first sexual experience in his room, but ends up humiliating himself instead. She still has a thing for Jim, and Jim spends the course of American Pie 2 preparing for a visit from her. He eventually chooses Michelle, his "geek", over her. Nadia is sexually aroused by "geeks", and Sherman (also known as The Shermanator) proves to be her perfect replacement for Jim. Although she doesn't appear in American Wedding, she is mentioned a couple of times.
- Vicky Lathum (Tara Reid) - Kevin's girlfriend, who will not let Kevin have sex with her unless everything is perfect. She and Kevin eventually have sex, and they soon break up, not wanting a long distance relationship. Not long after, she gets a new boyfriend. Vicky doesn't appear in the American Wedding.
- Heather (Mena Suvari) - A choir girl, Heather is really sweet and innocent. She is charmed by Oz, and the two fall in love, and eventually have sex (Oz chivalrously demurs from telling his friends whether they did). In the first summer of college (American Pie 2), she and Oz successfully maintain a long distance relationship. She doesn't appear in American Wedding.
- Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) - The sexually experienced expert. She convinces Vicky to have sex with Kevin, advises Kevin on how to get Vicky in bed with him, and spreads good rumors about Finch, to give him a reputation. She doesn't appear in American Wedding.
- Noah Levenstein (Jim's Dad) (Eugene Levy) - Jim's apparently geeky father, who does not know how to have a comfortable "birds and the bees" type conversation with his son. Whenever something humiliating happens to Jim, he's always there to try and cheer him up. He also walks in on Jim masturbating on more than one occasion. In spite of his geekiness, he is still a supportive, and loving father who has a good relationship with his son. He becomes the "Macro" of the band camp in American Pie: Band Camp. His First name is revealed to be Noah in the Naked Mile. In Beta House it is revealed that he was the champion of the Greek Olympic Games. He is the only character to have appeared in each of the American Pie movies.
- Jeanine Stifler (Jennifer Coolidge) - Stifler's gorgeous mother who is coveted by every boy in the school, often referred to as a MILF or "Mother I'd Like to Fuck". She has sex with Finch at the end of all three movies. She is referred to, and likes being called, "Stifler's mom," during sex. Her first name was revealed to be Jeanine in American Pie 2.
- Chuck Sherman (Chris Owen) - (also known as The Shermanator) is a nerdy kid whose lies about losing his virginity prompt Jim, Oz, Kevin and Finch to make their pact. It turns out that he never even had sex, and the girl he lied about humiliates him in front of everyone at the prom. He eventually has sex with Nadia in American Pie 2, and becomes the school guidance counselor in American Pie: Band Camp.
Location
Much of the film is based on the writer's days at East Grand Rapids High School in East Grand Rapids, Michigan an upper middle class suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan.[1][2] In the film, the town is called "East Great Falls" and the high school sports the same school colors - blue and yellow - along with a similar mascot - the Trailblazers instead of the Pioneers. The restaurant hangout Dog Years is based on Yesterdog, a popular hotdog restaurant in the nearby Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids.[3] The "Central Chicks" and "Central" Lacrosse team that East Great Falls plays against is an amalgam of nearby Forest Hills Central High School and Grand Rapids Central High School.[4]
The movie was actually filmed in Southern California, most notably in Long Beach using Robert A. Millikan High School (of the Long Beach Unified School District-LBUSD) in exterior shots and Long Beach Polytechnic High School in interior shots, whose school colors are also Blue/Yellow or Gold (in the same neighborhood where Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Donnie Darko were filmed).[5]
MPAA rating
In the original version, when Stifler drinks the semen-filled beer, Thomas Ian Nicholas' character says "Hey Stifler, how's the man chowder?" However, the MPAA would not allow this line (not even in an NC-17 rated cut), so the line was changed in postproduction to "Hey Stifler, how's the pale ale?" The "pale ale" Stifler drinks is actually beer with egg whites in it. Also, The MPAA refused to allow Jim to masturbate with the pie by lying on top of it and thrusting into it on the counter. He could do it only standing up. The original scene was put back in for the Unrated version of the DVD.
Cameos
- Blink-182 made a cameo appearance as the band watching Jim and Nadia during their webcast. Travis Barker, the drummer, was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor, the previous drummer for the band. Also when their song "Mutt" was credited, they misspelled his name as "Travis Barkor".
- A young Christina Milian appears as one of the band geeks.
- Casey Affleck plays Tom Myers (Kevin's older brother)
Soundtrack listing
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
- Third Eye Blind - "New Girl"
- Tonic - "You Wanted More"
- Blink-182 - "Mutt"
- Sugar Ray - "Glory"
- Super TransAtlantic - "Super down"
- Dishwalla - "Find Your Way Back Home"
- Bic Runga - "Good Morning Baby"
- Shades Apart - "Stranger by the Day"
- Bachelor Number One - "Summertime"
- Goldfinger - "Vintage Queen"
- Bic Runga - "Sway"
- Loose Nuts - "Wishen"
- The Atomic Fireballs - "Man with the Hex"
Although they were featured in the movie, The Ventures' "Walk, Don't Run", Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life", Oleander's "I Walk Alone", BT's "Anomaly (Calling Your Name)", Hole's "Celebrity Skin", Everclear's "Everything to Everyone" and Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" (heard during the first montage of the characters beginning their quests for dates) were not included on the soundtrack. The song "Following A Star" by Duke Daniels plays during the montage in which the characters prepare for their prom, but is also not included on the soundtrack. During Finch's conversation with Stifler's mom, the song "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel is heard in direct reference to the film The Graduate but it, too, was not included in the soundtrack. Also omitted is one of the last songs played — Barenaked Ladies' "One Week", which is also played during the first party at Stifler's house. A brief clip of "At Last" by Etta James; also not included in the soundtrack, is heard when Jim is walking over to Nadia at Stifler's party.
References
External links
