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Another piece of Pie

Saturday, April 7, 2012

So last night we went to the movies, which is a rare enough occasion as it is, but we went to the 10:30 showing, which means we were out at about 1 AM. Clearly, I'm not as young as I once was, because today's been a little rough.

We had a short discussion as to what to see. We're both a bit keen on Titanic, but then we'd be talking about driving home at 2:30 in the morning. We also considered The Hunger Games and The Lorax, but figured we'd catch those at the cheap theater or on DVD (plus, I'd like to read the books first). We finally decided on American Reunion. We've enjoyed other entries in the franchise and, despite their crassness, the characters are rather endearing.

I'm not interested in giving much away (it's not often I get the opportunity to comment on a current release) but I will say we really enjoyed it.

It was nice to catch up these guys after a number of years. It was well-written enough that I felt these were the same characters, but a bit more grown (well, for the most part — ahem, Stifler). The wacky situations, while farcical, didn't feel contrived, and I liked the character development for Jim's dad, so he didn't just have to be comic relief. (Wait... can you have comic relief in a comedy?) It was also entertaining to see every actor from the first movie with more than one line make an appearance.

Best of all, nothing felt forced. I didn't particularly care for American Wedding because it felt like they were just in it for the money. (I have even less regard for the direct-to-DVD movies, so I don’t even count them). The first was an instant classic, the second an enjoyable follow-up; this is a worthy successor of the two.

It's clear the actors themselves have a great deal of love and respect for their characters. Does this portend a fifth feature film? If it's as fun as this one, I say why not.

(Note: I wrote this post on my phone. Is it obvious?)