American Reunion

The fallout from the original ‘American Pie’ – a still-cresting tidal wave of tedious adolescent grossout crud – has obscured the fact that it was a likeable little comedy filled with memorable characters and moments of insight into the teenage condition. Thirteen years later, those characters have grown up – but the movies haven’t. ‘American Reunion’ sees Jim (Jason Biggs), Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and their toddler head home for a high-school reunion party, inevitably hooking up with the entire cast of the original movie en route. But what could have been a sweet, nostalgic reflection on the pitfalls and pleasures of growing up – with added dick jokes – is let down by a feeble script which eschews good-natured humour in favour of crass innuendo and postcard sauce: outside of porn, there has never been a movie with so many shots of grown men eyeing teenage girls’ backsides. The result is fitfully amusing but more often just creepy.