Universal Pictures, Rated R
Directed by Paul Weitz
Written by Adam Herz

No sooner has Hollywood strangled the life (no pun intended) out of the horror genre with its countless ripoffs of Scream than it begins to rip off There's Something About Mary left and right (and Can't Hardly Wait to a smaller extent, which is a ripoff to begin with). Here we have the heavily hyped (for a movie this small) American Pie as Exhibit A, yet another movie about guys trying to lose their virginity, and... that's it. Throw in Farrelly brother-esque gags and not much else thought seems to have gone into this movie. All the buzz behind it apparently was only based on the raunchy content and believe and not actual quality. All the best jokes (though usually funny indeed) are in the trailer for one. You can see many of them coming a mile away. Some are very funny, some aren't, some are obviously ripoffs of the Farrellys and some are insultingly bad. More like a collection of raunchy sketches than an actual plot (the plot has of course been seen in countless movies, mostly from the '80s). The performances range from perfect (Alyson Hannigan as a band nerd, Eddie Kay Thomas as a weirdo, Natasha Lyonne as the "experienced" girl) to abysmal (Shannon Elizabeth, as the foreign exchange student with a terrible accent). The only thing it has over exploitation films is that a few the girls seem to have actual feelings (the ones with only a few scenes, however do not). A few critics said these characters were not stereotypes but actually they are, just not as obviously.
The four leads are sometimes difficult to sympathize with and only Oz (Chris Klein from Election giving a somewhat lesser performance) really seems to change believably through the film. The makers of the film say that they are trying to portray high school accurately but I would point to the aforementioned Election as a better example of that. With such plot points as a sex manual that is passed down through each generation and a cheap internet-related gag, this movie just wildly over-exaggerates high school life. It is still an entertaining film, when it doesn't slip into derivativeness. Probably one of Eugene Levy's best roles in a while, too. If he, Hannigan and Lyonne (the three proven comic talents in the cast) had been used more, the movie would've vastly improved. If you're thinking, "I liked There's Something About Mary, so I think I will see it," be forewarned. Mary had a well-written, unpredictable script. This film (with one or two exceptions) is predictable all the way through, especially if you have only seen one commercial or more. I don't know if Universal is to blame for ruining it for the audience or if the movie is just-plain derivative and mediocre. Probably a little of both. I am a big fan of Alyson Hannigan, so if you are as well, you're probably better off renting and watching all 10 minutes of her screen time instead of shelling out $7 or $8. **