American Wedding Blu-ray offers decent video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
The third film in the American Pie series deals with the wedding of Jim and Michelle and the gathering of their families and friends, including Jim's old friends from high school and Michelle's little sister.
By the time the American Pie franchise reached its third installment, the formula was so
well-worn that it was merely a matter of picking the right setting, then figuring out how to insert
familiar characters and create opportunities for the sex jokes and gross-out set pieces the
audience had come to expect. The physical and romantic chemistry between Jason Biggs's Jim
and Alyson Hannigan's Michelle, a pair of geeks who turned out to be secretly a "perv" and a
"nympho", had been the surprise of the first two movies, one set in high school
and the other in college. (Well, maybe not such a surprise in American Pie 2.) Why not move it
front and center for the third film? Thus was born American Wedding, which opens immediately
after the perfectly matched couple graduates from college and starts with one of their kinky
sexual encounters instead of ending with it, like the first two films.
American Wedding was a box office success, because writer-producer Adam Herz was savvy
enough to offer audiences something more than a retread. He provided major screen time for new
characters, notably Michelle's family, and he and director Jesse Dylan hit the jackpot when they
cast Fred Willard and Deborah Rush as Michelle's parents and a pre-Mad Men January Jones as
her sister, Cadence, who looks nothing like Michelle but shares her secret hankering for "pervs".
The new characters add freshness and even a bit of anticipation to what would otherwise
become tiresome repetition as Stifler yells obscenities, behaves badly and consumes something
disgusting; Jim is subject to repeated bouts of public humiliation; Kevin does . . . well, not much
actually; and Finch delivers cynical pronouncements and suffers rejection as we await the
inevitable appearance by Stifler's Mom.
As on DVD, American Wedding arrives on Blu-ray with a choice between the R-rated theatrical
version and an unrated version that's seven minutes longer. The restored footage occurs
throughout the movie, and the disc has been mastered to default to the unrated version. It's the
right choice. Pleasing the ratings board usually involves judiciously trimming a bit of bare flesh
here, a few humping motions there, and tiny bits of "bad" language throughout. Better to stick
with what the filmmakers thought was funny than let the ratings board decide.
The wedding of the film's title is between Jim Levenstein (Biggs) and former band camp
attendee Michelle Flaherty (Hannigan). In true American Pie fashion, it's initiated by a
proposal involving a misplaced ring, oral sex in a public place, an inopportune intrusion by Jim's Dad
(the incomparable Eugene Levy) and public humiliation for Jim. But Michelle accepts, and the march
to the altar supplies a classic, simple plot on which writer Adam Herz can hang the usual
assortment of filth, raunch and gross-out jokes to satisfy the hardcore Pie
audience.
As always, the most outrageous material is ushered in by Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott),
now working as an assistant football coach, whom everyone initially tries to keep in the dark
about the wedding—a pointless exercise if ever there was one. Indeed, when "the Stif-meister"
catches on, Jim's buddies and groomsmen Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Kevin (Thomas Ian
Nicholas) look on the bright side. At least Stifler will throw an awesome bachelor party,
which he does, complete with a dominatrix, Officer Krystal (former Playmate Nikki Ziering), and a
dirty maid, Fraulein Brandi (an equally buxom Amanda Swisten). The boys are having a high old
time until Michelle's parents unexpectedly walk in.
Incredible as it may seem, Mr. and Mrs. Flaherty (Willard and Rush) have managed not to meet
Jim during all the years their daughter has been dating him. Then again, the prim Mrs. Flaherty
still entertains the fantasy that Michelle is a virgin. Naturally, the first encounter with their
future son-in-law occurs in a compromising position involving Stifler, an engagement party cake and
two dogs. Major sequences in the film are devoted to stepping lightly around the Flahertys, and
any scene in which Willard and Rush appear is automatically funnier for their presence.
But the most intriguing new Flaherty on the scene is Michelle's younger sister, Cadence (Jones),
an intellectual in a bombshell's body, who is just on the verge of following her older sister's
example and exploring the kinky side of life. On the strength of American Wedding, January
Jones's career could have taken an entirely different path than the ice queens to which Mad
Men has condemned her. As Cadence's virginity becomes the trophy in an increasingly bitter battle
between Finch and Stifler, Jones puts a secret smile on Cadence's face, throwing out mixed
signals to the two combatants, so that they're never sure whether she's interested in a foul-mouthed
caveman or a sensitive thinker. (Like many younger women, Cadence isn't entirely sure
herself.) She makes both Stifler and Finch funnier by pushing them to new extremes.
The emotional core of the film, as with its predecessor, is the relationship between Jim and his
father, except that now Jim's Dad has a soon-to-be daughter-in-law with whom to find new areas
of awkwardness. But Jim is his father's son, and in this chapter we see the same generosity of
spirit in Jim's determination to give Michelle the wedding of her dreams. Of course, this is
an American Pie film, which means that Jim's good-hearted impulses become the pretext for more
raunchy hijinks. For example, when the guys embark on a road trip to Chicago to obtain a
special-order wedding dress, a series of mishaps lands Stifler in the middle of a lavish gay bar,
where he find himself dancing for his life in competition with a bear of a man appropriately
known as "Bear" (Eric Allan Kramer). Don't ask me how, but Bear ends up involved in the
wedding. At the bachelor party, he tends bar—in a pair of assless chaps.
There is a certain segment of the readership at Blu-ray.com for whom a review of a Universal
catalogue title is only credible if it complains about "DNR". Since that term has been corrupted
by misuse, the previous sentence contains the sole occurrence you'll find in this review, and
those readers may be disappointed.
Still, all is not well with the 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of American Wedding. Black levels
and contrast are appropriate, and colors appear suitably saturated without bleeding and are
generally natural except where they're not supposed to be, as in, for example, the gay bar where
Stifler has a dance-off, and on the two guests of honor at Jim's bachelor party, of whom it can be
fairly said that not one single attribute looks the slightest bit natural (if you know what I mean).
The problem comes in the area of detail and definition. The image on American Wedding is
somewhat indistinct: not "soft" in a manner that suggests a particular style in the original
photography, and not "blurry" in a way that suggests poor source material. No, this one looks
very much like the unfortunate effect of high-frequency filtering that went too far and resulted in
some amount of image detail being removed. The effect is relatively minor, but there shouldn't
be any at all. (And note that the impact may vary depending on your equipment; in my
experience, plasma and LCD displays are generally less forgiving when it comes to such post-
processing.) The effect can also be seen in the film's grain patterns, which look natural
enough—no clumping, freezing or "hanging"—but are unusually faint, almost as if they'd been
partially "erased".
As I have written elsewhere, there are both aesthetic and philosophical dimensions to the
decision to eliminate or minimize grain in movies shot on film. In a world where cinema is
dominated by digital intermediates, digital video and digital projection, we are quickly reaching a
point where most viewers don't even know how film grain is supposed to look. I happen to be
against grain removal, even though digital tools have progressed to the point where it can be
done without also losing fine detail. But if you're going to do it, that's the only way to do
it, and Universal didn't do so here.
The most aggressive sequence in American Wedding's DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is Stifler's
"dance-off" with Bear in an ornate Chicago gay bar. The multiple plot contrivances required to
set up the scene are too, well, contrived to bear repeating, but when the two guys hit the
dance floor to a medley of Eighties club favorites, the sub pounds, the front mains pulse, and the
surrounds fill with the whoops and cheers of the crowd. The scene goes on a lot longer than
anyone expects, and the sound mix is at least as much fun as the goofy antics of Stifler and
Bear.
Numerous other scenes use the surround field effectively to add impact and ambiance, e.g.,
Stifler's confrontation with Jim on the football field, surrounded by Stifler's team, over whether
Jim will invite him to the wedding. The track has wide dynamic range, and it's been well mixed
to accommodate dialogue from a chorus of different voices and speaking styles, from Stifler's
stentorian cursing to Michelle's warble to the sotto voce counseling of Jim's Dad.All of it is perfectly intelligible. The underscoring by Christopher Beck (The Hangover)
blends seamlessly with the selection of pop songs by Foo Fighters and others.
Deleted Scenes (SD; 1.33:1 & 2.35:1; 22:09): There are 12 scenes; all but
the last are
introduced by either Adan Herz or Seann William Scott. The best are those that include
Eugene Levy.
Outtakes (SD; 2.35:1; 6:07): A mildly amusing collection of bloopers.
American Reunion: A Look Inside (HD, 1080p; 1.85:1; 3:58): A standard-
issue promo piece for the fourth (the fourth!) film in the franchise, not counting direct-to-
video spin-offs.
Stifler Speak (SD; 1.33:1; 7:15): Seann William Scott and Adam Herz breakdown
the elements of Stifler's peculiar brand of vulgarity. Multiple takes demonstrate how Scott
embroidered Stifler's lines on each take. Fred Willard observes that Scott works with
profanity "the way Picasso worked with oils". Herz makes a point of reassuring the
viewer that Scott is nothing like Stifler.
Enter the Dominatrix: Inside the Bachelor Party (SD; 1.33:1; 9:47): Loaded with
outtakes, this "making of" featurette may actually be funnier than the sequence whose
filming it chronicles (depending on your taste).
Grooming the Groom (SD; 1.33:1; 6:34): The logistics of filming a key scene
("key" being a relative term) involving shaved pubic hair.
Cheesy Wedding Video (SD; 1.33:1; 2:59): Just as the title suggests, this is how
a traditional amateur wedding video for Jim's and Michelle's big day might play. More of a
homage than a parody.
Kevin Cam: A Day in the Life of an Actor (SD; 1.33:1; 3:34): Thomas Ian Nicholas
gives us a tour of his trailer. If nothing else, this feature confirms that most of movie
acting is sitting around waiting.
Nikki's Hollywood Journal (SD; 1.33:1; 9:55): For anyone who can't get enough of
a Playmate of the Month primping, vamping and getting fawned over.
Commentary with Director Jesse Dylan and Actor Seann William Scott: Dylan is
low-key, often facetious and not very informative. Scott is enthusiastic, full of praise for
everyone and only occasionally informative. Perhaps the most memorable moments are
those when he talks about aspiring to a career in dramatic films and never expecting to do
comedy, because he can't be funny. It's a strange bit of cognitive dissonance to hear in
the instantly recognizable voice of Stifler.
Commentary with Actors Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and
Thomas Ian Nicholas: An eminently skippable bull session, strictly for fans.
I doubt that any fan of the American Pie series needs a reviewer's evaluation to decide
whether to add American Wedding to their collection. As third outings go, it does a remarkably
good job of avoiding the pitfalls of sequels, especially when you consider that the original film is
hardly an icon to begin with. The more urgent question for Blu-ray buyers is the film's hi-def
treatment by Universal. While I'm not one who automatically raises a pitchfork when Universal's name
appears on a disc, in this instance it's evident that Universal has produced a lesser disc than could
(and should) have been created from a film shot in 2003. Caveat emptor.
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