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| AMERICAN PIE (1999) - R
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ReviewScore: 59 out of 100
SBD Star Rating:
by Lew Irwin
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American Pie is the latest slice of teen-oriented raunch that studios are offering up over the summer, and, like last week's South Park: Bigger ... etc., most critics concur that while it may be tasteless, it's exquisitely enjoyable nonetheless. Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer is among those who heap praise on the film. "Exceptionally funny, unexpectedly tender, and lewder than a teenage boy's dreams, this giddy, R-rated comedy from rookie screenwriter Adam Herz surfs hormones the way Star Wars rides hyperspace." She notes that it is also "unusually sensitive to adolescent femininity." Jonathan Foreman in the New York Post writes: "It is vulgar and lewd and raunchy like you wouldn't believe, and absolutely hilarious from beginning to end." Chris Vognar in the Dallas Morning News agrees. "American Pie passes the most important comedy test: Namely, it's funny." Surprisingly, many critics have found that, despite the film's apparent crassness, there's an abundance of charm and even morality at work in it too. Writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times: "To see American Pie is to know that all this foolishness is only window-dressing for a film that at its core is surprisingly innocent and good-natured and even finds the time to promote decent values. If America's teenagers have a biological need to sneak into crass R-rated movies, and apparently they do, this is the one parents not only can feel safest about but might even enjoy themselves." On the other hand, some critics appear suitably grossed out by the entire film. Unlike There's Something About Mary, Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, the movie is "not just a comedy with rank moments, but a fully formed rank comedy." And Stephen Holden in the New York Times concludes: "Among this year's bumper crop of shallow teen-age movies, it is the shallowest and the most prurient. It may well be the biggest hit." |
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