Class ‘Reunion’
Whole gang returns for another slice of ‘American Pie’
It seems right that most of the “American Pie” films — including “American Reunion,” opening Friday — end with a toast to times ahead, since this sex-and-friendship franchise has always been about overcoming the present.
That’s probably one reason why they click with audiences. And why, as with real-life reunions, this latest movie illustrates a truth about high school life: After 13 years, it turns out that the ones to watch weren’t the beauties, jocks and star performers — it was the quirkiest, quietest freaks and geeks.
Alyson Hannigan (as Michelle) turned a minor riff about “one time, at band camp...” into the original movie’s most quotable line. Since then, she was a major part of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” universe and is in her seventh season on the hit sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”
John Cho was a footnote as the nameless character who popularized the term “MILF” in the first “Pie.” He ended up with generational icon status in the “Harold and Kumar” movies and is about to return as Mr. Sulu in the next “Star Trek” re-do. (He adds a funny “Milf-Milf-milf” to the new film.)
Seann William Scott (Steve Stifler) had a Jack Nicholson smile and outsider status in the first three “Pie” flicks — but has parlayed his vocal sneer into a part in the “Ice Age” movies (the latest is out this summer) and a recognizable persona into a half-dozen varied comedies, even as he’s struggled of late with a brief stay in a celeb treatment center.
Even the grownups, Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge — aka Jim’s dad and Stifler’s mom — went on to do some of the funniest stuff of the last decade in their pal Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries (“Best in Show,” “For Your Consideration”). comparatively, the cast members who peaked with “Pie,” its 2001 sequel and 2003’s “American Wedding” are the ones who went in looking golden.
Chris Klein (Oz) starred in a forgettable “Rollerball” remake and struggled with alcohol addiction that got him two DUI arrests and 96 hours in jail. Shannon Elizabeth (Nadia the exchange student) was the girl who showed skin in “Pie,” a would-be pinup girl who quickly became a straight-to-dvd staple. Tara Reid turned into a poster child for party chicks and gossip page fodder, costarring in movies like the aptly named “Body Shots.”
Mena Suvari had a costarring role in another 1999 “American” hit — the Best Picture-winning “American Beauty” — then became just another American supporting actress in unimportant films. And Natasha Lyonne was an indie darling who fell out of favor after drug abuse and bad choices nearly left her homeless.
Even Jason Biggs (Jim), the movies’ main character, never got past roles that recalled his “Pie” character, such as “Saving Silverman,” “Loser” and Woody Allen’s “Anything Else.”
They’re revisiting their heyday in “Reunion,” perhaps the smartest thing many of the cast could do to move on. Because as much as the franchise has been about gross-out moments — a down-and-dirty litany that includes molested baked goods, Super Glued private parts, bodily fluids people think are Champagne and dog waste masquerading as a truffle — the movies also are about our love/ hate relationship with the good times we remember: They define us while making us eager for the next step.