American Pie: Yawn.

Last night I flipped on the TV and saw that the 1999 movie American Pie was on. I saw it only once in the theater, when it came out, but after rewatching some of it, I can definitely see it's not a film that holds up over time. Granted, when I first saw it, I knew it was just a "teen comedy" but there are some who think this is somehow transcendent of the genre, which it is not. (Though Eugene Levy is good).

During the movie, there were clips with the directors and some of the actors, and the directors mentioned that Diner was an influence. Well, Diner isn't a great movie either, but it is loads better than the silly, dated frat boyish humor that incorporates this film. There is also an homage to The Graduate where one of the characters screws his friend's mom. But the point is that American Pie is not in a league artistically with either of those two films.

I also get annoyed by this movie because it's one of those films that young guys feel the need to quote from in everyday life. (It's like what Ace Ventura was in the early-mid '90s). I remember back in '01-'03 my male coworkers would just mutter lines from this shit, and it's always a bad sign when you can't come up with your own jokes, but need to repeat the stale lines from mediocre films. Granted, another film they quoted from constantly was Office Space, but Office Space, while it can still appeal to the high school/frat boy mentality, has far better acting, writing and comic realism in that film.

Basically, if you're into toilet humor and want a film that does it well, I recommend the 40 Year Old Virgin, where the writing is much better. Here is the American Pie trailer:

Office Space

This weekend I watched the movie Office Space, after encountering references to it a couple of times of the past couple of weeks. This is a film that is listed as a ‘great genre’ film on Cinemension’s Great Film List, though I must say that I don’t think it is a great movie, genre or otherwise. I think it is just ok. It had some funny moments, particularly at the beginning of the film, and did capture many of the inanities of office life. But it kind of petered out at the end, and overall I don’t find it to be an especially memorable film. On Dan’s list, he’s featured Annie Hall as an example of a ‘great genre’ film in the Comedy category, and I’d say that is a better example of such. It is better written, and I’d say funnier and more memorable. Yet Allen has films that went beyond it, like Stardust Memories, so you can understand the argument for it as a ‘genre great'.

Here’s a scene with Jennifer Aniston. My friend remarked that Aniston always seems to play the same character in her work, and I kind of agree that she doesn’t really make much of an impression as an actress. I find the ‘flair’ thing to be funny though, as someone who did have to wear those fucking lame buttons at this one job I had.