July 8–15, 1999

movie shorts

American Pie

It's hardly surprising that an independent movie would look like studio product. After all, some people see the indies as stepping stones the big leagues, for which practice would, presumably, be a good thing. Written by Adam Herz, co-produced and directed by brothers Chris and Paul Weitz, American Pie seems the perfect route to Contract City (especially given the current industry lust for fraternal filmmakers). That is, the movie is particularly unsurprising, premised on trendy body-fluids raunch (farting, vomiting, ejaculating) and the perennially popular idea that high school sucks. Here, talented young actors play white, middle class students fretting about sex and the upcoming prom. Boys desire to get laid and girls are objects of that desire. The girls are treated badly by the film: Natasha Lyonne (The Slums of Beverly Hills, Pee-Wee's Playhouse) is terribly underused as one boy's unlikely sexual advisor; Alyson Hannigan recycles Willow (the character she plays on TV's Buffy) in a seeming parody of girly sweet naivete to focus another boy's yearning, and Shannon Elizabeth plays an exchange student who unknowingly strips and masturbates for an internet upload, so all the boys can pant and high-five each other. The boys are familiar types: clueless nice guy Jason Biggs, pretty jock Chris Klein, smarmy geek Chris Owen, big bully Seann W. Scott.

—Cindy Fuchs