The Bottom Line
Although "American Wedding" offers little other than entertainment, I recommend this sweet-natured, laugh-out-loud comedy. However, it's not for people who don't like sophomoric, raunchy, vulgar humor.
Pros
- Quite a few big belly laughs
- Sweet-natured (could be a con)
- Some unexpected material for a comedy about a wedding
Cons
- A bit uneven and has a few longueurs
- Offers little other than entertainment
- Quite a bit of crude humor (could be a pro)
Description
- DVD containing comedy "American Wedding" (2003)
- Film is third movie in "American Pie" series
- Movie stars Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy
- DVD contains feature-length audio commentary by director Jesse Dylan and Seann William Scott
- DVD contains feature-length audio commentary by Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, two other actors
- DVD contains deleted scenes and outtakes
- Excellent picture and sound quality
- DVD release date: January 2, 2004
- Available in "R" rated and unrated versions ("R" rated version reviewed here)
- Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes
Guide Review - "American Wedding" DVD Review
Although "American Wedding" offers little other than entertainment, I recommend this sweet-natured, laugh-out-loud comedy. However, it's not for people who don't like sophomoric, raunchy, vulgar humor. The film is the third in a series, following "American Pie" (1999) and "American Pie 2" (2001), and Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Eugene Levy, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Thomas Ian Nicholas are back. This time around, Jim Levenstein (Biggs) and Michelle Flaherty (Hannigan) are getting married, and a lot goes wrong along the way. I thought the funniest sequence was the bachelor party where two young women—one dressed as a dominatrix policewoman and the other as a maid—get topless and entertain the guys. A brilliant series of farcical mishaps unfolds when Jim's future in-laws walk in on the party, and what made this so hilarious was that I couldn’t see any of the gags coming. I thought another truly funny, but gross, sequence was where Jim meets his future in-laws for the first time: they come upon him and Stifler (Scott) in what looks like a four-way with two canines. I found the first two-thirds of the film to be uproariously funny, but then it changes tone, and I didn't laugh much in the final half hour. The movie becomes more sweet-natured and romantic towards the end, but I still found this to be a satisfying way to wind the story down. The DVD box claims "American Wedding" will end the series, but I wouldn't be surprised if that changed.
