MovieReview: "American Wedding", "Spy Kids 3D"

title: "American Wedding"

starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, January Jones, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Molly Cheek, Deborah Rush

genre: comedy

The third slice of the popular, raunchy trilogy - "American Pie" - is a montage of uncensored sexuality and forced sentimentality. Jim Levenstein (Biggs), now grown up, and insistent on avoiding "encounters" with baked pies, is engaged to Michelle Flaherty (Hannigan), a giddy, nerdy girl whose previous outlandish activities at band camp made for hilarity in the first film. Biggs and Hannigan have childish chemistry; they're still the wacky accident-prone adolescents we take them for, but this time they threw a ring into the mix. Biggs' friends include Finch, the intellectual Voltaire quotee, Kevin, the irrevelant necessity, and, most colorful, the formulaic Stifler, whose persona it seems has gotten even more raunchier, inhumane, and expletive-laced than the first two films...if possible. Forget tounge-in-cheek Three Stooges humor - this is the pornoish superficial kind, right down to Stifler consuming dog poop. This movie isn't everybody's cup of tea (nor were the other two), and it's evident right off the bat. But it's the frequent charm that occurs that keeps us there...or maybe, for the males, it's the chance to see the glorified bachelor party. Jim's dad, played by Eugene Levy, is the best character in all three films; he's wholly honest, and purposely fronting, and it's refreshing to see a father tell his son about the throes of marriage without dumb metaphors. Levy is the kind of dad who puts up with everything, even after his son "reveals" himself in a restaurant. Michelle's sister, played inncoent enough by January Jones, is the quintissential newcomer; Finch and Stifler fight over her - Finch fighting for a girl, Stifler for a piece of meat - and by the end it's grown thoroughly tiresome. "American Wedding" is a fitting end to the trilogy, with its gross parading and visual bodily laughs, and it's safe to say that while the ingredients might be the same, the film isn't just reheated goods. grade: B

MPAA: R

cool scenes: Stifler steals the scenes

look for: a cameo by Finch's love interest...Stifler's mom

out there:

"Spy Kids 3D: Game Over": Also the end of a trilogy, "Spy Kids 3D" is just that, 3D. Robert Rodreguiz sprays the screen with colored hoop-la, fast, fun and furious. Sylvester Stallone as the villianous Toymaker is a groan, but the video game in which the Cortez siblings enter is dowright Nintendoish. After awhile, it stops being fun though, and you're left with little screaming kids, plastic glasses, and electrocuted eyesight. grade: B-

"Johnny English": D+

"Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life": B

coming up:

"Freddy vs. Jason"

"Intolerable Cruelty"

"Underworld"

WARNING: this review is Mik12's and no one else's!!! This review has not been copied, traced...you get the idea.

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