Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
aka AMERICAN PIE 5
Starring: John White, Steve Talley, Candace Kroslak, Jessie Schram, Jon Cor
Director: Joe Nussbaum
I started to watch this straight to video release with trepidation. I’m a big fan of the AMERICAN PIE movies, my favourite being AMERICAN WEDDING, so the fact that Eugene Levy as Mr Levenstein is the only character retained from the original cast seemed a little disappointing. However, if it says AMERICAN PIE on the disc I’ll give it a taste and as it turned out it’s very tasty indeed!
The story centres around Eric Stiffler (John White) as a high school senior who with thoughts of college looming is the only Stiffler who at his age, has not yet lost his virginity. To make matters worse his girlfriend Tracy (Jessie Schram) just isn’t ready to give it up leaving Eric with a frustrating problem.
But this is an AMERICAN PIE movie so a solution is at hand when he goes on a weekend away trip with his two best friends to visit his cousin Adam Stiffler (Steve Talley) at college where an over the top annual event is taking place – the Naked Mile – complete with a mass of gorgeous collage chics. To make the weekend even better this girlfriend Tracy gives him a ‘guilty free pass’ to get having sex out of his system, which could possibly give Eric the best weekend of his life!
The movie begins with an AMERICAN PIE trademark outrageous scene that lets you know immediately which comedy franchise you are watching. The strange thing is that the lead Stiffler character bears more of the traits of the original Jim Levenstein character, made famous by Jason Biggs, than his movie relative Steve Stiffler. But the Stiffler style humour is not lacking as it’s eventually introduced by Steve Talley as cousin Adam and although no one will ever beat Seann William Scott, Talley does manage to find the right balance of likable mixed with extreme.
The similarities between Eric’s character and the original Jim Levenstein continue throughout the film which almost makes me wonder if the films makers are looking to mirror the themes of the first three films rather than continue the original story. If that’s the case then I guess looking at a new branch of the family does leave the way open for a parallel franchise storyline with the possibility of a future return to the antics of the original cast. This would make sense with Eugene Levy’s Mr Levenstein character continuing to link the two storylines together with numerous in film references.
THE NAKED MILE does itself have quite a lot going for it. It’s well paced and has plenty of laughs along the way. The characters are well played and this film probably has more naked girls actually on screen than the original three put together. It’s also got the incredibly attractive Brandy played by Candace Kroslak, possibly one of the hottest babes on the planet! I know if she appears in more American Pies then I’ll be watching them.
About the only let down in the film and this is not really a spoiler as it’s so dammed obvious, is that no sane heterosexual guy would ever say no to Brandy (Candace Kroslak) and future PIE franchise makers might want to take note that the movie would have moved from enjoyable into the excellent category if it had not gone down the romantic comedy route toward the end of the film. This movie could have had all it’s pie and eaten it if it had have broken trend and been more daring in it’s conclusion.
That being said AMERICAN PIE 5 is still well worth watching and I would personally recommend viewing the most unrated version you can get. Now for another slice of pie!
