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American Reunion (American Pie: Reunion)

3/10

Stars: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, Tara Reid, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Natasha Lyonne, Dania Ramirez, Mena Suvari, Rebecca De Mornay, Shannon Elizabeth, Neil Patrick Harris

Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg

The boys from the American Pie series are back, and it's another slice of the filling as before - set-up gags about oral and more conventional sex, and various bodily functions.

Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) are married with a toddler and are having sex with themselves rather than each other. Why they should risk being caught doing this isn't exactly clear, but still it helps the comic cause.... Oz (Klein) and Finch (Thomas) are also less than happy, and as for Stifler (Scott), well the self-styled Stifmeister is still as grossly objectionable as ever, but less fun to be with this time around.

Only Kevin (Nicholas) seems content with his lot and his marriage.

Anyway, all concerned head back to the beach and the prom hall for a high school reunion (commemorating 13 years? How odd), where Jim becomes unintentionally involved with the girl (Ali Cobrin) he used to babysit, now a voluptuous teenage bombshell with the hots for him. Kevin and Oz encounter old flames, and Finch hooks up with another, but hides a guilty secret.

Meanwhile, Jim's widower father (Levy) goes to one of Stifler's parties, and ends up drunk as a skunk with Stifler's pneumatic mom (Coolidge). As for Stifler himself, well he goes for most of the disgusting things you would expect him to do, and a few more besides.

There's the odd chuckle here and there, but the formula looks very tired and a lot of 'funny' lines are just a bit off beam, and too scattershot, as when Stifler exclaims: 'Let's make the weekend our bitch'. Fans of the series, and there are many, will probably still chortle and choke in their coke and corn. Others beware: the acting all too clearly shows why none of the cast, with the possible exception of Scott, became major stars.

David Quinlan

USA 2011. UK Distributor: Universal. Colour by deluxe.
113 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 27 Apr 2012