American Pie is one of those films that evokes instant nostalgia from me. It’s such a distinctly late 90s movie, complete with an awesome soundtrack and a cameo from one of my favorite bands, blink-182. It wasn’t afraid to discuss sex at a time when my body was going through those painfully awkward changes. Most importantly, my parents didn’t want me watching it. This of course meant that I watched it. A lot.
In the past year, I have sold a large amount of my movie collection to save space in my small apartment. My American Pie DVD made the cutting block. That being said, I hadn’t watched the film in years, right up until this weekend.
Revisiting a movie from your childhood can be a soul-crushing experience. Finding out Max Keeble’s Big Move was not the cinematic masterpiece you remember is a difficult pill to swallow. Yet, sometimes it can be invigorating. Toy Story still holds up today, and is arguably more enjoyable as an adult. Revisiting American Pie proved to be a middling experience for me.
On the one hand, the film has its strengths. The way the film deals with the sexual desires of teenage boys (and the peer pressure that comes with sex) is brutally honest, and as a human male, I can still relate. The toxic masculinity that permeates the conversations between our four protagonists and chronic asshole Steve Stifler (played to perfection by Seann William Scott) is true to life. Everyone remembers a Stifler from high school, and if you don’t, surprise: you were the Stifler. The scenes between the five main characters encapsulate the dynamic of high school boys when adults aren’t watching.
Another strong suit of the film is the way it portrays the awkwardness of coming into your sexuality. Jim’s encounters with his father (the wonderful Eugene Levy), who is sometimes too open in his attempts to teach Jim (Jason Biggs) about sex, are both hilarious and relatable. Oz’s (Chris Klein) ill-fated encounter with a college girl is the same. The only teenager in the film that seems to know what they’re doing is Jessica (Natasha Lyonne), who acts as a sexual guru for multiple characters. Her advice is sometimes misplaced, but one gets the sense that she’s more sexually experienced than her peers.
The problem comes in with one part in particular: the webcam scene. Midway through the film, Jim is convinced by Stifler and his friends to set up a webcam in his room, so they can watch Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), a foreign exchange student, change clothes when she comes over for a study date. Watching this scene as an adult made me queasy. The camera lingers on her body as she pleasures herself to Jim’s pornography. This part is not presented in a humorous manner; it’s a perverted fantasy in the worst way possible. It’s then played for laughs when the tables are turned on Jim and Nadia makes him strip in front of the entire student body (who are all watching due to a slip up on Jim’s part), though this comes much too late.
In the next scene, Jim mentions that Nadia’s sponsors found out, and she was sent back to her country. Whatever humiliation Jim suffers due to the webcam incident is nothing compared to Nadia’s expulsion, which is brushed over in a cavalier manner that is not only angering, but borderline sociopathic. To make matters worse, the closing scene shows Jim and Nadia keeping in touch through online video chats, ignoring the fact that Jim violated her privacy and derailed her education.
All the mistakes that Jim’s friends make seem to teach them life lessons that make them (at least marginally) better people by the closing credits. Yet Jim gets off with no more than an awkward morning at school. While Oz, Kevin, and Finch all do questionable deeds, they learn from the consequences. How is Jim supposed to learn when no real consequences result from his actions? In fact, he still reaps the rewards of continuing a relationship with Nadia. Why is Jim not in any trouble for secretly broadcasting a sexual video of a classmate? I understand this is a comedy, but when kids today are facing legal ramifications for actions played for laughs, I can’t find the humor in it.
American Pie is a solid teen sex comedy that has been mimicked and parodied since its release. However, the glaring blind spot with Jim should be acknowledged. Even our beloved classics have their issues. We can only hope that filmmakers learn from these mistakes and correct them in future films.
