American Pie 2 [Special Edition,,Unrated Version]

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Universal Studios owned the summer of 2001. "The Mummy Returns," "The Fast and the Furious," "Jurassic Park III," and "American Pie 2" each grossed more than $100 million during a crowded time-frame when even a Steven Spielberg effort (the misunderstood and underappreciated "A.I.") failed to reach blockbuster status. However, as much as money matters interest me--I check box office figures regularly--the financial success of these movies scares and saddens me. Universal´s popcorn quartet consisted of three sequels and one re-make/genre re-tread. Basically, audiences chose to see what they had already seen rather than opting for ground-breaking achievements such as "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within."

"American Pie 2" takes place during the summer following Jim (Jason Biggs), Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), and Finch´s (Eddie Kaye Thomas) first year at college. They all got laid for the first time on prom night, but no one except for Oz (he´s dating Heather, played by Mena Suvari) has gotten lucky with anyone since that night. The boys would like to capture the fun of their high school days, and they would like to get some bed action. Therefore, they rent a summer house on Lake Michigan so that they can throw a bang of a party.

Heather´s spending the summer in Spain, so she and Oz resort to phone sex. They actually stay faithful to each other, so they´re the film´s sweet couple. Meanwhile, Kevin still pines for Vicki (Tara Reid), even though they haven´t kept in touch ever since she went off to Cornell University. Finch now sips sake instead of coffee, and he meditates in order to prepare for meeting Stifler´s mom once again.

Since the four boys can´t afford the summer home on their own, they invite Stifler, their old asshole-buddy. Stifler is probably the worst thing about the film. As with Chris Tucker in "Rush Hour 2," Sean William Scott is allowed to run amok, yapping and insulting his way through what´s supposed to be a light-hearted comedy. Pretty soon, Stifler´s obnoxious verbal assaults on everyone in sight wore me down.

Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), the Czech girl caught on Internet streaming video with a "premature" Jim, comes back to the States to hook up with Jim. It turns out that she has a yen for nerds and geeks. Jim turns to Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), the flautist who "knows what to do" with her instrument, for sex advice.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that he goes through the film´s most embarrassing moments, Jim still endears himself to the audience better than the other characters. Jim´s hands are superglued to his body, and he has to pretend to be a "special" trombone player when he´s pushed onto the stage at band camp. He may be humiliated countless times, but we love Jim because he tries so damn hard to be cool and sexy.

Most of the first film´s best gags are repeated in "Pie 2." Stifler endures an attack of bodily fluids, walkie-talkies transmit a sexy encounter to a wide audience (ala the Internet joke in "Pie"), and Jim´s parents walk in on Jim doing something sexy. Been there, done that.

By the way, "The Mummy Returns," "Jurassic Park III," and "American Pie 2" each made their ways onto my ten worst films of the year list. "The Fast and the Furious" featured charismatic leads and great visual energy, so it offers some re-play value. The other three are just cinematic voids.

Video:
The video presentation is just this side of unwatchable. For some reason, the entire film is shrouded in some sort of light filter. The first "Pie" was rather dark and gray on DVD, but "Pie 2" had me thinking that I was going blind or something. Basically, watching "Pie 2" was akin to watching a movie while wearing sunglasses.

If you can adjust to the inexplicably dark video, you won´t find many other problems with the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. There is basically no grain, and specks, dirt, or the usual physical markings aren´t on the print. The problem is, you´ll never get over how dark the movie looks, so you won´t be able to appreciate how clean it actually is.

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