Extras : Scene index, Cast and Filmmakers' Notes, Trailer, Spotlight on Location,
Out-takes, Audio Commentary, DVD-ROM content, Classic Quotes, Production Notes,
Music Highlights, Animated Menus
Director:
Paul Weitz
(American Pie)
Producers:
Warren Zide, Craig Perry, Chris Moore and Chris Weitz
Screenplay:
Adam Herz
Music:
David Lawrence
Cast:
Jim: Jason Biggs (American Pie, TV: As the World Turns, Drexell's Class, Total Security)
Victoria "Vicky" Lathum: Tara Reid (American Pie, The Big Lebowski, Cruel Intentions, Girl, I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, The Night Before, A Return To Salem's Lot, Urban Legend)
Heather: Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie, Kiss the Girls, Live Virgin, Nowhere, The Rage: Carrie 2, Slums of Beverly Hills, TV: Chicago Hope, E.R.)
Jim's Dad: Eugene Levy (American Pie, Father of the Bride Parts 1 & 2, Multiplicity, National Lampoon's Vacation, Nothing Personal, Once Upon a Crime..., Splash!, Stay Tuned, TV: Mad About You)
American Pie
is an American high-school sex comedy about four teenage nerds and their ultimate goal:
to lose their cherry before school's out. However, it has to be via consensual sex and
not with a hooker.
First up is Jim (Jason Biggs) who isn't quite up to it when he gets his calling
and has unfortunate mishaps, first with an apple pie and then over the internet with a
girl in his class, sex-pot Nadia Shannon Elizabeth, but he may just get to make it up with
nerdy, flute-playing Michelle (Alyson Hannigan); Oz (Chris Klein) joins the choir
class to chat up Heather (American Beauty's Mena Suvari); Kevin (Thomas Ian
Nicholas) is dating the gorgeous Vicky (Tara Reid) and teaches her the secrets
of the "tongue tornado" after reading the legendary "sex bible" that is passed on through
the generations at his school; and finally there's Paul (Eddie Kaye Thomas), who
seems to have a reputation with the ladies that none of his friends can understand because
they only know him as the guy who refuses to take a dump in the school toilet and know when
it's time as he disappears for another "16-minute round trip".
The film also takes in the concept of the "father-son chat", the legendary parties
thrown by Steve Stifler (Seann W. Scott) and a term I've never heard before that
some guys apply to the woman that gave birth to him: M.I.L.F. - "Mom, I'd love to fuck".
The picture is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio with no obvious artifacts, but it
does look a little dark overall which is odd. The average bitrate is an
excellent 9.8Mb/s.
The sound is good too and presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but is mostly used for
the pop tunes that denote the teenage youth, such as Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed
Life" and The Barenaked Ladies' "One Week", but no version of Don McLean's
titular offering.
Extras :
Chapters/Trailer :
Only 18 chapters but two more than the usual Universal-via-Columbia offering, so could
use more. The theatrical trailer is also included.
Languages/Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and subtitles for the same language.
And there's more... :
The Out-takes last two-and-a-half minutes and are just that, but also feature
'work in progress' shots and the other "sex with pie" version which, as far as I know,
is the only change to the "American Pie: Unseen" video that was hyped when it was put
out for sale.
Spotlight on Location is a ten-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, with a typical
made-for-TV approach mixing clips with comments from the cast and crew, but should only be watched
after you've seen the film as it gives away some of the key comedy moments.
Music Highlights does exactly what it says on the tin allowing access to snippets of
all 22 songs featured in the movie with its own menu. Want to hear that classic line of dialogue
again? Check out the Classic Quotes section with 20 brief snippets such as
"What exactly does third base feel like?"
"Like warm apple pie"
However, for some weird reason they tend to cut out right before the very end, often losing
the last word or two. "Like warm...", anyone?
Cast and Filmmakers' Notes provides biogs and filmogs for the director and all the
main cast members, thus is very comprehensive. The Production Notes also gives you
more information about the film. The DVD-ROM content adds to this, repeating some of the
above, plus more info on the crew and a listing of the soundtrack album.
A feature-length Audio Commentary track is included with not
only chat from director Paul Weitz, but also his brother and co-producer Chris Weitz,
writer Adam Herz and cast members Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jason Biggs and
Seann W. Scott.
Worthy of note too is that most of the extras feature English subtitles too,
although the audio commentary doesn't.
Menu :
An excellent main menu with animation mocking the internet section of the film (I'll
say no more - you'll have to see it to believe it) and some incidental music from the
film.
Overall, a great comedy that's well worth seeing - and the debut for the writer-producer
Weitz brothers - with an almost-perfect picture and lots of extras, as many as the
Region 1 DVD in fact.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
