I passed on seeing American Pie in the theater, even though I'm a huge fan of the High School genre. I just didn't think this movie would be any good at all. But, I started hearing how well it was doing and there was all this talk about the movie everywhere. Of course, the biggest buzz worthy moment in the film centered around Shannon Elizabeth as Nadia. Needless to say, the moment the DVD dropped, I bought it without ever seeing the movie or anything beyond the trailer.

I wasn't at all surprised how lame I thought the movie was back then. But of course, the only thing that "saves" this movie was in fact Shannon. Her scene was of course hot and I understood why it was the talk of the town. It's really the ONLY thing that is good about the movie and the only reason why I just never got rid of the DVD. She's a keeper, if not the movie.

So, what is it about American Pie that I don't like? That's easy. The actor's all suck. And when I say 'actor's', I mean just that. Sure, the characters they play are nothing more than cardboard cutouts, but I really can't stand any of the actors playing the roles. The only actors, besides Shannon, that I even like are Alyson Hannigan and Eugene Levy, both by the way are very funny in this and provide the only laughs to be found in the movie. But their scenes are too far and few between that it's more of a blip. Weak story, weaker acting and weakest "film directing" I've ever seen. The writing here is just awful.

There really is no way I can recommend this as a Rent, if only to check out Shannon's part if you've never seen it (if you haven't, where the hell you been?). Other than that, this is a Skip. The movie as a whole is way overrated and hasn't gotten any better with age (or the few times I've managed to watch this all the way through). What's crazy is that I haven't watched American Pie in years and I decided that I wanted to do an American Pie marathon since I have never seen the other films. This marathon could turn out to be a big mistake on my part. I can only hope that since they have milked this for 3 additional movies that it does get better, if only slightly.

We shall see. I'll let you know my thoughts.........

I always sort of felt that I missed out by never seeing this movie, outside of that one scene.  Glad to hear that it's not the case.

I know that I was dissing Striptease for this, but part of me thinks that they should have done Shannon "reward pellet" scenes throughout the  movie to keep you interested, if that makes sense.  Some wild and crazy finale with her.

Man, I remember way back in the day when Shannon was a big deal she was talking in some interview of how proud her dad was that she was in the movie, he was showing friends the poster or her Maxim spread or something and boasting "yeah, that's my daughter!"

She does. They even touch upon her obsession with geeks that she would later date (marry) another guy that looked exactly like Jason Biggs' character in American Reunion.

PS, I love it when a thread is resurrected! Wheeeeee!!!

Shermanator was in AP, but he also shows up in the other films, getting a "big" cameo in American Reunion.