American Pie (movie)

I think American Pie is one of the precursors to the more thoughtful teenage sex films we saw in Superbad, and comedies like Booksmart, Adventureland, etc.

American Pie seemed to get some surprisingly decent reviews when it came out. Hell, Roger Ebert gave it three stars, and pointed out something that I think really helped its case. The characters weren't mean-spirited, aside from the bully, Stifler, who gets his comeuppance at the end of the film.

Now, it's not perfect. These days, Jim would be ostracized and maybe even arrested for his hidden camera stunt with Nadia. Ironically Nadia was so sex-positive that she probably wouldn't have minded, either. But there's some surprisingly progressive stuff in there. Kevin realizing he should focus on pleasing his partner. Oz realizing he doesn't have to have sex to be happy with someone. As far as I remember, there's not a lot of slut-shaming in it, both the boys and the girls were curious about sex and enjoyed it.

It's funny how the careers ended up for the cast and crew. Mena Suvari was in this and American Beauty, two huge movies, but she kind of faded out. Similarly, Chris Klein was in this and Election, and did the same. Tara Reid became a tabloid fixture. Seann William Scott did alright for himself, and I actually think he's underrated if anything. He was great in Role Models. Alyson Hannigan was in one of the biggest shows of the 2000s, in addition to being on one of the most popular cult shows of the 90s, so she's had a healthy career. Strangely, relatively minor characters ended up having the best careers, John "MILF Guy" Cho and Natasha "Jessica" Lyonne. Jason Biggs, I would've picked to have the best career of all of them. And while he's worked steadily, I can't say he really filled his potential. I think one of his latest projects is like Cash Cab, except he shows up at your house, and it's on the E! channel.

The writer didn't end up doing much of anything else, although he apparently got $625k in 1990s money so he's probably doing alright. And the director is one of the Weitz brothers, who were sort of born into the business. He did Mozart In The Jungle recently.

This was also right before the explosion of the internet, smartphones, and mp3 downloads. One of the last teen movies to have a soundtrack and dedicated music videos for it.

Is there a difference between the version of Mutt that appears on Enema Of The State and the version of Mutt that appears on American Pie soundtrack and/or the within the film? I hear a difference. Maybe mixed differently or an entirely separate recording.

I am aware there is a version that was recorded before Enema of the State but this is not the version I mean.

By the way The American Pie recording to my ears sounds the best!

Jennifer Coolidge was born in 1961, so she was roughly 38 in the film. BW was 32 in ‘61 and 70 in ‘99.