We're starting off light this year with AMERICAN REUNION!
A new year. A new us.
Well, not really. It's the same show basically, just a little older and tired. We're the podcast equivalent of just wanting to go to your bed and having a lie-down. Kinda like the old saps in this fourth (and final) mainline installment of the AMERICAN PIE film series (we're not counting all the straight-to-DVD films either).
This is AMERICAN REUNION! And we're back with this bunch of reprobates as they've hit full adulthood and struggling with the woes that come with that. Again, this is another excuse to see what nonsense Jim finds himself brutalizing his member over. It's hilarious.
Weren't the 90's awesome?
Nostalgia, Nudity, and Laughter: Revisiting American Reunion
Laura: Ferrero Rocher, the mhm. Owners of Nestle Confectionaries.
Ryan: Let's get this done so I can get back to my Ferrero Rocher
Laura: Well, hello there. Welcome to On the BiTTE the podcast that uncovers full frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura and I am joined by the man of the new year. Ryan.
Ryan: I'm a new Year. I'm a new man.
Laura: Are you?
Ryan: Or I'm a new man and it's a new year.
Laura: You're a new Year man.
Ryan: Yes. I might turn into Stifler. Maybe I should. Yeah, O. Stifler. Old Stiffmeister.
Laura: There you go.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Um, speaking of Stiffmeister, we are starting off the year a little bit easier. We're not delving into despair, we're not descending into darkness.
Ryan: No, no, hold on, hold on. Look, look, it's fine. It's a new. It's a new year, it's a new me. It's new. Everything is new. It's gonna be fine.
Laura: And we're having a new film. Uh, the one we're gonna talk about right now. We are gonna start off a little light, a little easy, a little bit breezy for this new year. When we talk about the 2012 sex comedy, American Reunion, it's about bringing people together.
Ryan: Old friends, an old friendship story, old lovers. Yeah, bringing people together. A 13 year. Well, that's if you don't include the spin offs, but at least a 13 year cinematic dynasty.
Laura: Well, yeah, 13 years between American Pie and this one. Hence why they are doing a 13 year reunion. Because they couldn't get it together in time to do an actual 10 year reunion film.
Ryan: Yes, that's very true. That's very true. But, but y. It wasn't, uh, at the ten year mark. That was the Wedding one, right? Maybe.
Laura: I, I don't know. I'm sure you probably have that written down.
Ryan: I didn't write down the date. I don't think it really made any difference because Chris Klein is not in the wedding one, which I can't be 100% certain I've actually seen. I can't really remember.
Laura: Okay. American wedding was in 2003. So let's just. Maybe we'll just lay this out really quick. American Pie came out in 1999, followed by American Pie 2 in 2001, American Wedding 2003, and then 2012 is American Reunion. I don't care about American Pie presents, I don't care about Bandamp, all that stuff.
Ryan: Well, I'm going to talk about that stuff because that, that, that continues The Dynasty for a further eight years. Because those films continueill like 2020.
Laura: I heard they're making another one as well. I've never seen any of these spin off films.
Ryan: No, I don't. The only. Here's the thing. This is what I found really funny. You know who the only recurring character is in those movies?
Laura: Tell me.
Ryan: It's Eugene Levy's character.
Laura: That makes no sense.
Ryan: He is in all of them. Other than Girls Rules, which was the last one.
Laura: Eugene Levy, you know, elevates everything that he's in. They're lucky to have him or his.
Ryan: Character is in those movies.
Laura: What do you mean? Are you saying Eugene Levy did not play the.
Ryan: I don't know if Eugene Levy's in because they're straight to video. I don't know if that's like below him, but his character is definitely in those movies. I just kind of want to make that. That distinction because I don't want to cheapen Eugene Levy in any way, shape or form.
Laura: He is in, um. Them. He's in all of those.
Ryan: Oh, fuck.
Laura: That would be insane. No one else can play that character.
Ryan: No. Unless it was. It'like the young version, you know.
Laura: Oh my God. I don't even want to go there. That just sounds upsetting. There's enough. We have enough. This film was directed by John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and it stars the whole cast basically of the original film. The middle two films don't include everybody, but you've got Jason Biggs, Alison Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian, Nicholas, Tara Reed, Sean, William Scott, Mina Savari, Eddie K. Thomas, Jennifer Coolidge, and the one and only Eugene Levy.
Ryan: Right. Okay, I see.
Laura: Let me throw. I feel like it. Hasnt t everyone seen this movie? I hope they did.
Ryan: I don't know. I. I did like the fact that Chris Klein at one point when he's. He's there, he's
00:05:00
Ryan: just like, well, you know, I couldn't make it to your wedding.
Laura: Yeah, right.
Ryan: And it's kind of just like, oh, okay, that's weird. I mean, I don't know how mist he is because he's kind of like physical plastic.
Laura: He was funny in this film.
Ryan: Um, okay, yeah, he's decent. It's just. Yeah. Obviously the material is waiting things than at this point.
Laura: Oh my God. Absolutely. Well, the synopsis pulled from letterboxed is the characters we met a little more than a decade ago return to East Great Falls for their high school reunion. In one long overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed who Hasn't. And what time and distance can't break. Uh, regarding the bonds of friendship. Said some of that wrong. That's okay. You can't break words. The bond of friendship.
Ryan: The bonds of friendship.
Laura: And the tagline of this is. Oh boy, save the best piece for last O of that crumbly cum filled apple pie.
Ryan: Yeah. The fuck cake or fuck pie. Yeah. Still. Yeah. I still can't get over the fact that you thought that was a good.
Laura: Idea in that first movie and not take it elsewhere.
Ryan: Yeah. Don't do it in the kitchen, like.
Laura: Or take a piece and put it in a bowl maybe.
Ryan: Or like, it's like. It's like those folk who like burn the ends of their cocks. Like microwaving those melons that they've drilled a hole into.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: And they put their dick in without thinking. O, this is gonna be really hot.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: And that's a mistake.
Laura: Totally.
Ryan: Third degree burns on the end of your member. That's not good for you.
Laura: No, certainly not.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Would you like to tell us about the directors? Plural?
Ryan: Yes. So we're looking at two, uh, ye comedy gurus here. Um, John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. They are collectively, uh, producer, screenwriters and directors. Um, they are mostly known for their work on Cobra Kai. The successful, if slightly tiresome. Now.
Laura: I love that show.
Ryan: Netflix show. It's so fucking repetitive. It's the same thing every single season.
Laura: You gotta take down Cobra K. They've gotten out of control.
Ryan: It has is. It's basically turned into the American Office. It is, yeah. It's. It's the Karate Kids answer to the American Office. Because it won't stop.
Laura: Oh my gosh. It's maybe on four Seasons.
Ryan: Well, what are they waiting for, James Spadeder to come in and make a cameo or something?
Laura: That would be horrible. There's always more people to bring in from the past.
Ryan: Well, from the Karate Kid.
Laura: M. Absolutely. They keep finding them.
Ryan: I don't know why, because I don't remember them from the original films, like whatsoever I do. It's like every coach has their own coach who's also got another coach. And there's just this hch. It's like a game of.
Laura: They bring in every single person.
Ryan: Poor white man'kar coaches.
Laura: Everyone that beat up Ralph Macchio gets a cameo. And then they become either good boys or bad boys in the scheme of the, uh, world building of Cobra Kai. Go on.
Ryan: Well, it's basically, well, that y. That's like, uh, a fast and furious, like, paradigm, you know. What? I mean, like, you know, the villain that you're going to be facing there, it's been. Is going to become a family member.
Laura: Same thing as the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy so far.
Ryan: Yeah, except I think that's a little bit more self aware. Like it knows exactly what it's doing and it's doing it fantastically. But, uh, yes, and so they, they did. They did Cobra Kai. Um, the Harold and Kumar movies.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Um, which, I mean, there's a few. And then obviously American Reunion. Um, but they'filmography it's not particularly vast, which is why I'm kind of making it a collective as them as acting as writers, directors and general filmmakers. Um, they did Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle in 2004, which they wrote, but they didn't direct. Um, Harold and Kumar Escape from Grantanamo Bay, 2008. You're gonna see a bit of a pattern here. Harold and Kumar go to Amsterdam in 2008 as well. And then a very Harold and Kumar Christmas from, uh, 2011.
Laura: This is the very first time that I'm learning that there was a Herold and Kumargo to Amsterdam.
Ryan: There is. I did not know it was always a trilogy. Yeah, was always a trilogy.
Laura: And a Christmas special.
Ryan: Yeah, and there's a Christmas special as well. So, um, and then after the Kumar Christmas, we have American reunion in 2012. After that we have blockers. 2018, obviously, Cobra Kai, which is ongoing from 2018. Plan B, which is 2021 and obliterated from 2023.
00:10:00
Ryan: Um, so as we're aware, there are four mainline American pie movies that have, you know, bits and pieces of this original ensemble cast from the first movie. Um, and obviously American Pie Reunion, as it's also called in Other Parts of the World, is the final film in the series. Um, and has obviously, as we pointed out, the same ensemble cast. Um, after that. You want to hear what the five direct to video films were called?
Laura: I like actually don't at all. But please go on because you wrote them down. I feel like you really want to say them for.
Ryan: Well, I feel like. I feel like you are. I think they're hammering it down. Well, I don't care if you think they're dumb. We're here, we're giving information. So you said Band Camp and I also mentioned Girls Rules as well, which is a really a handful title. It's awful. There's also a film called Naked Mile, uh, Beta House. Do you want to guess what the other ones called?
Laura: Couck House.
Ryan: No, it's called Book Of Love. You were wrong, but that's fine.
Laura: All right.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: No, there's always room for more.
Ryan: It was called Book of Love. So dumb. Um, it was. It wasn't cak I ca house.
Laura: I said cook, but.
Ryan: Oh, cook house.
Laura: Cock house is pretty good.
Ryan: Yeah. Be cock chair though, wouldn't it? Or like cut corner.
Laura: Cock house could be another like, frat.
Ryan: One after beta cock has in like, you know, cold.
Laura: Correct. A. Correct. Uh, Is that all of them?
Ryan: That's. That's everything. Ok. Yeah, it just. I kind of paddied out what I could say because it was a little bit. It was a little bit sparse. Also. My notes are relatively quite sparse as well. I'm not 100% sure if that was due to me enjoying the film or just, uh, just not really having anything else to say. So.
Laura: It's hard to do. It's hard to review comedy films sometimes, ca. Becausee they're.
Ryan: Yeah. You know, it's almost impossible.
Laura: They're jokes.
Ryan: Yeah. But like, if you've. If you've seen the first few mainline American Pie movies, this kind of ticks all those boxies, basically.
Laura: I think it ticks the boxes, but does it a little bit better because the directors were fans of the original and they really tried to do callbacks but not be too eye rolling about it. And they did manage to get the whole cast together. And there's, yeah, great callbacks, great references. The music'really good. And you would expect it to be.
Ryan: A little cringey, this film. Actually, it's. Actually, it's. There's some funny bits in it. A lot of it comes from Shan. William Scott, obviously.
Laura: Well, he gets more screen time here.
Ryan: Gets a lot more screen.
Laura: It m here for the benefit of all.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah. It's like they kind of took your favorite part of American Pie and they just kind of focused on it a little bit more without making it tiresome as well. Because I'm a think. I'm thinking an hour and a half of Stifler just on his own the entire time might not be that great. It's kind of good when they're all in a group.
Laura: Uh, yeah, yeah.
Ryan: You know, we're all kind of comes together. Um.
Laura: But yeah, this is the least cringey in terms of how it's aged because it's been over 10 years since this has come out.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: The first one is veryeah.
Ryan: Pre White.
Laura: Problematic.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Many times over. It's still funny, don't get me wrong, because it can. It has its place. And I remember When I saw it. Incredible. Very, very funny.
Ryan: It's kind of. Yeah, well, it's kind of like Ferrelli Brothers movies now, you know, like Dumb and Dumber and Dumb and Dumber.
Laura: Still perfect.
Ryan: Like me, myself and Irene and, you know, there's something About Mary. Like, there's some stuff in there where it's kind of. Yeah. I mean. Yeah, there's some shit in those movies, so.
Laura: Still good?
Ryan: Um, yeah, they're still good, but you kind of. It's hard for you to put them to, like, this generation with some of the humor that they have and what enrages people today. It. It'd be rough.
Laura: Speaking of humor, apparently the directors decided to have kind of a comedy roundtable when they were. They wrote the script and they wanted to punch it up a bit. So they brought in a bunch of their industry comedy pals to come in. Patton Oswalt was one of them, for example, to help come up with new jokes for the film, which they thought was very beneficial in terms of the writing process. And, uh,
00:15:00
Laura: that's part, uh, of the jokes.
Ryan: That's probably why some of it is actually funny.
Laura: The directors themselves don't sound funny.
Ryan: That commentary that, uh, is provided, it should probably just. I mean, it just shouldn't be on there. Like, they should just have gotten rid of it.
Laura: It's one of the most boring commentaries I've seen on a film.
Ryan: Yeah, it's kind of like if. Well, I think we've all seen the Cona and the Barbarian. Um, we've all listened to that commentary.
Laura: Hilarious that you think that everyone's listened to that commentary. It is a treat.
Ryan: It's a real treat. The. Yeah, the. The Milius. The Milius Schwarzenegger combo is something that just needs to be beholden. Um, but no, it's more. It was more kind of like. Because Arnold, other than he's hilarious in the commentary, completely unintentionally, he's just kind of stating, like, what's going on on the screen as you're watching it. Um, which is kind of what the. The guys do in this. Who. And they also seem to have this kind of, you know, weird feeling that they've created the Citizen Kane of comedy films with this one.
Laura: I don't know. I don't know about that so much, but I feel like they think that Harold and Kumar might have been caus. They sure do talk about Harold and Kum Marqu quite a bit.
Ryan: Basically. That's like every little moment that they've prefaced is kind of like, oh, it's like Harold and Kumar. Remember those movies that we root. You know, those stoner movies with John motherfucking Cho.
Laura: They are quite proud that this is the very first in the American Pie franchise that features marijuana. They're pretty happy about that. Huh?
Ryan: Huh?
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: With I was interest.
Laura: Jim's dad and Stifler's mom smoking a joint. Yeah, that doesn.
Ryan: Doesn't really make any sense.
Laura: Another thing I did learn from the commentary is also referencing Harold and Kumar. When they were in Toronto filming Harold and Kumar, the casting crew would go to a strip club in town. And next to that nice strip club, there was another more not as nice and not so fancy strip bar called Jilly's Bar. So the first place that all the boys get together in American Reunion is called Jilly's Bar. And it is a reference to that creepy strip club in Toronto that all the casting crew would go to.
Ryan: Okay, uh, well, I'm sorry.
Laura: They would go to the one next door. They would make fun of Jilly's Bar. Hence.
Ryan: Yeah. Oh, yeah's kind.
Laura: That's something I learned. Isn't that exciting?
Ryan: Um, I'I'm a little bit perplexed.
Laura: A little. In joke.
Ryan: I mean, I guess a lot of.
Laura: Random things about the film or in jokes, like the name of the financial firm that Stifler is an intern atb, JBL or something. It's like John Hurwitz's initials. Um, JG or something. Or jh.
Ryan: Yeah, JH or something. Jdh. Right. Okay.
Laura: Uh, there's a lot of little things like that.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I Naming characters after friends or old bosses or teachers or whatever, which is kind. I mean, that makes sense.
Ryan: I mean, that's just the way that sometimes it goes.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So you don't have to be so angry about it.
Ryan: Well, I'm m not that I'm angry. I'm kind of. I think I'm expecting a lot more from what you say. But really, like, if that. That amount of trivia is quite's quite.
Laura: Sad, us have quite interesting thing that I discovered listening to almost two hours worth of director commentary. Okay. They're like, we filmed in Atlanta and it was really hot and everyone had to hydrate. Okay. I also learned, like, in some of the other Blu Ray features, on top of the other research that I did, that everyone liked to hit each other in the nuts. Also, Jason Bigs. Jason Bigs farts all the time. That's what I learned from watching and listening to commentary for this episode. Jason Biggs is incredibly flatulent, which I'm like, cool, he's a dude. They all are.
Ryan: Well, I don't. Yeah, I don't think it's that I'm angry at, uh, your trivia. I think it's the fact that you're angry at your own trivia because you've had to put yourself through it.
Laura: I watched American Reunion twice today. I'm not that mad about it because it's not terrible.
Ryan: It's not an awful film though.
Laura: It made me laugh quite a few times.
Ryan: It's actually. Yeah, it's actually quite.
Laura: I can't wait to talk about some of the things that I liked. Speaking of, one of my favorite
00:20:00
Laura: things happens 23 minutes and 20 seconds into this movie. That's my drum roll in the penis scene. I don't know how to do a drum roll.
Ryan: It'well uh, you know, you could just do it on the table.
Laura: Like tappity tappity, tappity tapity toot penis Sc.
Ryan: Yeah, there is a penis in this movie.
Laura: This is the first penis in American Pie film.
Ryan: Which is weirduse those films are loaded to the brim with just sex stuff.
Laura: That's all it's about. It's the classic American male focused, like high school thing. Like the men want toa have sex by either prom or by graduation.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: They gotta get their bone on.
Ryan: They gotta bust a nut.
Laura: I mean, this is one of the.
Ryan: On or around a woman or guy or whoever.
Laura: The women just don't care. The men wanta pork and they're gonna get someone to have give it up.
Ryan: Yeah. The female characters in these movies don't fear particular. They're. They're a little bit cardboard and I feel like that's just by design. They're not particularly funny.
Laura: I don't know. Alison Hannigan is incredible.
Ryan: Oh, Heather, um, Was it Michelle? Yeah, yeah. She's good, but she doesn't. There's not a lot of range and it's not like they give her anything to play off of either.
Laura: Well, they gave her a baby enough. They gave her a baby in this one.
Ryan: Literally gave her like.
Laura: And her sen of humor.
Ryan: Y.
Laura: Her sense of humor went right out the window.
Ryan: Pretty much, yeah. Like a piece of her, you know, a piece of fur was taken away.
Laura: She's still amazing, but yeah, all the boys got to have fun. Yeah, there was no.
Ryan: It was always like that, though. Like, it was always like that.
Laura: There's just such a huge cast and every single person has their own storyline that you're having to delve into. And it could have been a lot bigger of a mess. Yeah, okay, I'm digressing. We are talking about penis Sc.
Ryan: So we started and then we had to come back.
Laura: This was 23 minutes, 20 seconds into the film. And this particular scene was Alison Hannigan's very first day of filming.
Ryan: O. Nice. Perfect.
Laura: And I guess to set up the scene, the boys went out drinking and then met up with Stifler. A lot kind of happened at the, um, Whatever bar. Well, that I just said Jillies.
Ryan: S. Yeah. So the boys are back together. Because we don't really need to go too far into it. The boys are back together and they end up. Yeah, they end. Stifler ends up taking them to, like, a high school party on the water. And there's already been a fair amount of, like, set up for, um, for Jim to be like, you're basically set up with some. Basically somebody used to. Used to, um. Um, use to babysit, right? Yeah. So you're babysitting, and then this person's all growing up now and she's just turning 18. Wink, wink. Um, but basically, they've had a big night of drinking and Jim wakes up in the kitchen on the kitchen floor.
Laura: There's empty beer bottles and there's snackage all over the counter, but he is trouserless. He is pantsless.
Ryan: Porky peging it.
Laura: Porky pe in it.
Ryan: Couldn't, uh.
Laura: I don't know if he was wearing shoes. He was wearing his shirt.
Ryan: I don't know if. Yeah, we didn't get that far down, but he's 100%. He's wearing a T shirt that you cannot pull down any further.
Laura: No.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: You know, and he is in. They're staying at his dad's house. So they're in the original kitchen. The American Pie fucking countertop.
Ryan: Yeah, the bedroom and all that sort of thing.
Laura: Yeah, but they're in the kitchen where he had sex with that pie.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: And it's basically at the point where his wife and her friend walk in and he has to, in a very comedic fashion indeed, hide the fact that he's not wearing any pants.
Ryan: Pretty much. It is a comedy of errors. Um, but then, like, that's the thing with the Jason Bigs character anyway. Is that only just previous we've seen them, um, try to have a wank, but then his kid comes into the room and starts asking him things while he's trying to watch porn. And he's also's. He's jammed. He's cack end into. He's been sandwiched it into a laptop. So we've already gotten a fair flavor of the. The hilarious shenanigans and physical comedy that were being presented to by, uh, Jason Biggs here.
Laura: I mean, it's very funny. I'm not mad about that thating scene where
00:25:00
Laura: he wop and he throw c suck on his kid's head. His wife is, is pledging herself in the bathroom and Jason bigs penis is bleeding. It's very funny.
Ryan: It's kind of fucked up. Yeah, that's not a good thing because like, God knows what he's done to, to like squash it to the point of bleeding. I mean, that's pretty. That's pretty horrendous.
Laura: It's pretty bad.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: In this kitchen, he, whilst trying to hide the fact that he is naked from the waist down. It doesn't work, obviously. And he tries to hide his junk with whatever's nearest to him, which happened to be a glass lid for a pot that was sitting on top of the stove. So there you go.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Glass pot lid over his wiener. And he's got it all squished in with just the tip sticking out.
Ryan: Yeah, it's very. Well, yeah, he's just like squished it and made it all flat and the heads like poking out the sides.
Laura: They. It's funny. I don't know. It's really funny. Uh, they had to pick the right size lid. They tried out a bunch of different lids, right. To make sure that they got the right size one. And it was, um. They kept saying, you got toa squish it more. It's funnier when you really squish it. So they had to get it just right where he had did slam it on top of his wiener and make sure it's all nice and squished.
Ryan: Um, yeah, yeah, it makes it funnier because if you're just seeing a dick behind it, it's kind of as if he's like. He's got it like removed from his body if he's not kind of doing that. No one would really do it that way anyway. But yeah, it is funnier. It'definitely funnier.
Laura: Jason Biggs was adamant that they should have another kind of big, funny comedic situation like the pie. He really wanted to have another type of pie situation. And the directors had talked about the idea. They tweaked it as they went along. And they called him during pre production, called Jason Biggs and asked him, you know, basically, would you show your penis? M and he said, I'll do anything for comedy as long as it's funny. And I felt like, yeah, that makes sense. It's funny. If done correctly, this will be the pie scene and in some ways may even be talked about. It was what I was looking for and my wife was with me through the whole period and she was in agreement, so she was psyched.
Ryan: Wow. Okay. U, um, yeah, it's uue, uh, like you remember, you remember the em American, like the pie scene from the first one? I can't really. Oh, no. The second one has the Superg glue where he superg glues his hand to'weus.
Laura: I don't really remember that.
Ryan: Well, he thinks it's lube.
Laura: Oh, dear.
Ryan: Yeah, and he uses. He uses, uh. Yeah, use super glue'terrible. I don't know what happens in the wedding, but I mean this.
Laura: I do remember a part of the wedding where he's trying to trim his pubes and then it goes up into the vent and then it gets blown onto his wedding cake and all over everyone's face and mouths.
Ryan: Oh, no, we definitely watched it then. Yeah, you Andi watched it because I.
Laura: Remember that I think we watched them all one day for whatever reason. I don't know.
Ryan: They probably did, I think. Well, yeah, I'IT was probably during, you know, the pandemic or something, probably during 2020, probably when we did that because we were just desperate for anything to stimulate us.
Laura: Make me laugh.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Jason Biggs insisted that they spend a lot of time on the wide shot just to show that it was him. He said that if he wasnna do it, he was going toa make sure everyone knew it was him. He goes, you see a full shot so that it's clear or more obvious that it's my penis. I remember in early cuts I kept telling the directors, I have one note, you've got to hold on that shot longer so people will know that it's my penis. Otherwise, what's the point of me doing this? The plain truth is that's my penis.
Ryan: Wow.
Laura: I mean, bravo, Bravo. Jason Piggs.
Ryan: Yeah, at least he s. Yeah, at least he's not shy about it. Uh, becausee I was gonna say it was just like, how funny is it in relation to those other scenes that I pointed out, though? I don't know if it's funnier.
Laura: I don't know if it's funnier, but the fact that after all these films, especially the second one, a third one, I feel especially the second one kind of is a little bit gratuitous on the female side. This one, I think only has one pair of boobs.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And it's the neighbor.
Ryan: I mean it's a lot of boobs.
Laura: It's a lot.
Ryan: Yeah, that is a lot of. That's a lot of boobage basically.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Because like you might only see the one payir of boobs, but you see them a lot. Yeah, it's pretty, pretty relentless.
Laura: But you know, it had to. Didn't uh, have to happen. But it's a good thing that it did because that's what the movies are. They're raunchy and they're always talking about boners and. Yeah, might as well, let's go.
Ryan: It's all about sex and having sex and getting it on and you know, stuff. Yeah, it was always like that. So it was always on everyone's mind in the 90s.
Laura: That's right.
Ryan: You know, but u. Uh. Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, I mean it's funny and I just. I can't like I'I was like trying to get it so we could maybe.
Laura: Figure it out but I mean I always remembered it.
Ryan: Yeah. I can't remember how funny that uh, Americans that scene with the pie is, but I do remember that I think it's Smooth Criminal plays on the part where he realizes that he's. He's super glued his hand. He's wingus and he has to try and has to basically try and escape and he ends up on the roof and stuff like that.
Laura: Which version of Smooth Criminal is it?
Ryan: The alien ant farm. Very. Because that's 2000s as so. Yeah, that's 100%.
Laura: Yeah. In terms of being memorable, I always did remember this particular scene in American Reunion. You never forget the pie because that was quite something at the time.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: The second one, I don't remember that. But yeah, there's a lot. It's memorable.
Ryan: Yeah. There's more things in this like more kind of fucked up things that kind of happen um, that are kind of. Yeah, but there's a lot, there's a lot of gross out humor which is kind of at least like at least that's, you know they stay within the vein of those films over such a long period of time. You know. Which is why I think this film isn't actually that bad.
Laura: That's uh. The thing that I believe that everyone realized when they were writing it, when they were filming it is that even though it's been you know, more than 10 years and people grow up and these characters, like some of them have children and they've gotten married and they've got jobs Etcetera. People are still the same. People don't change that much.
Ryan: No, they don't.
Laura: We're all children.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Very immature. We love farts and poop and boners and sex jokes and.
Ryan: It's just. We do.
Laura: We never grow up.
Ryan: We don't. No, you don't. You're always kind of the same person. Although, for whatever reason, they thought fucking high school was awesome.
Laura: I think some people. Well, not all of them do. Stifler does.
Ryan: He does. Yeah.
Laura: I don't know if the rest of them do. That's just because he peaked in high school. Uh, I didn't hate high school, but I certainly didn't like it.
Ryan: No, I mean, I actively despised it. Uh, James Gillesie's high school. Hated it. It was fucking horrific. But, like. Yeah. I just don't get people who were like, oh, man, fucking high school was this shit. It's like. No, it wasn't.
Laura: Just understand that they're sad. There's no other reason for them to have enjoyed high school.
Ryan: Yeah. That's not good. That's not good. Yeah. No, but it's. Yeah. I just. It's, um. Yeah.
Laura: Friendship is always nice.
Ryan: Yeah. Well, we do like a friendship story. You like a good. Like a good band. These are. This is a band of rowdy men, though. Um. They're a little bit sleepier in this film, I would say. But, yeah, there're. They're. They're rowdy enough, at least.
Laura: Yeah. I mean, you've got Jason Biggs and Alison Hannigan, and they're dressed up in S and M gear and leather. True. You know, could.
Ryan: Which is kind of. Which is kind of. Again, it's an entire. Like, that scene is wild, the more you think about it. Because she's brought that stuff to Stifler's mum's house.
Laura: Yes. At a house party.
Ryan: A house party where they're gonna commandee a bedroom and then. Yeah. And then have sex. Probably kind of wild sex. While wearing leathers and stuff like that.
Laura: She also gives him a bag of stuff to put on, and then she goes to leave the room and she goes, I'll be right back. She goes into the hallway of a party, and then, I assume, walks back into the bedroom through the crowd of people at this party wearing leathers and a whip. Yes.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And you're like, why? She could have probably. Probably gone into a closet. That house looks like a rich person's house. I, uh, think there's probably a bathroom in that room. Where. Or she
00:35:00
Laura: could go, turn around. Obviously. The hijinks will not ensue if she didn't leave the room.
Ryan: No. But other hijinks do ensue.
Laura: Um, because that one girl, that little neighbor girl, really wants to get the booies.
Ryan: Yeah. For whatever reason is like, oh, he was nice to me because, like, her current boyfriend's like, a bit of a dick. But, like. Yeah. I'm like, I don't know. I mean, good for. Good for Jim. He seems the continue to getting these. All these women that he's absolutely terrified of.
Laura: He's cute. He's cute.
Ryan: Yeah. He's kind of funny and stuff. It just doesn't. A lot of it never really made much sense to me.
Laura: Um, Jason Biggs in real life does better, I'm sure, than his character in this film, because Jason Biggs in real life is actually funny. Jason Biggs character, Jim is not very funny.
Ryan: No, he's awkward. Yeah. I don't think Jim's meant to be particular. He's meant to be laughed at, not laughed with. He is very much the comedy pratfall. Don't be a pussy, Geimm.
Laura: Johno.
Ryan: Fucking John. Showo, man. John. Sho.
Laura: Perfect. Sprinkled in.
Ryan: So fucking good. Everything he's in, he's good in. That's the thing. Yeah, it's just, uh. He's so fucking funny in, uh, this. So fucking funny.
Laura: One of my favorite scenes, which I won't talk about too much, was the Lakeside Cooler shitting revenge scene where Stifler does an Apocalypse Now. Right.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: In the lake.
Ryan: Well, it's either Apocalypse now or it's like Deliverance.
Laura: Either way.
Ryan: Either way.
Laura: And he's in the lake and he's going to sabotage these mean boys jet skis, and then he ends up taking a full diarrhea poo. In their cooler.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And destroying their jet skis. And I, um, will say, for a.
Ryan: Sound effects, for someone taking a shit, I thought that was pretty spot on. How. How those three couldn't hear him doing that, though, is something that, you know, if we do that, then we basically are tearing holes into this.
Laura: Uh. Yeah, we can't tear any more holes into the story.
Ryan: No, this. This film is bas. Yeah, it's Swiss cheese when it comes to, like, the, you know, the logic of it all, but, you know, as long as it's funny. But yeah, I did, like, it's, you know, it's better than the shitting sound effects from Dumb and Dumber, that's for sure. I thought it was squeaks. It felt more accurate.
Laura: Wow. Um.
Ryan: Yeah, the Pooping.
Laura: It did worry me about his owls and his colon and everything, because I thought if he did a poop like that after being in the water and you really had to go, I would have just pooped in the lake.
Ryan: I've got a funny feeling. Stifler's the sort of guy who drinks a lot of soda. Uh, so. Or at least, like, he doesn't believe in drinking water. Like he's maybe one of those people. Because I don't know. Like what Stifler kind of comes across to me is that he's not. I don't think he's unintelligent, but I also think he would be into conspiracies. That's what I definitely think.
Laura: Interesting.
Ryan: I think he would be easily led because he'd be like, where's the party? It's like, I'm ready to party.
Laura: And it's like he just wants a party with his friends.
Ryan: He just wants the party. He doesn't want the party to end, you know? Doesn't want the party to end.
Laura: Yeah, it was after this lakeside poopoo scene where you end up seeing the neighbor naked, basically. Um, yeah. I don't know if I have that timing right. But anyway, I don't know. It doesn't particularly.
Ryan: It really doesn't matter because it's just pratfall after pratfall until we get to the reunion, basically. And then everyone comes together at the end. Soeah. It's just one of those.
Laura: Well, the director said that the nudity in the film comes from obviously the tradition of the franchise, but also comes just as an homage to the older R, uh, rated comedies that the directors grew up watching. Right. You just kind of expect nudity in these R rated comedies. But for this film in particular, they wanted to make sure that the nudity comes along with the storyline. Which didn't really happen in the second and third installments where if there was nudity, it didn't really come from the characters that had anything to do with the story as much.
Ryan: Yeah, uh, they werent like recurring characters basically. They were there purely for nuditys sake.
Laura: Right. Which is that, uh, alone fun? Sure, I guess. But doesn that'not what these guys wanted to do? Which I can appreciate. They wanted it to be more reminiscent of the Nadia character from the original film, where the nudity does come from a
00:40:00
Laura: character that you, you know, and you're at least mildly invested in their story.
Ryan: Right.
Laura: Or their character. So that was the whole thing with the neighbor. They wanted you to meet her, get to Know her a little bit, get a little bit of a storyline and then, boom. Boobies.
Ryan: Yeah, it's probably. I mean, I think it's actually probably funnier that way as well. It's kind of like, you know how fucked up this situation is. Cause it's more fucked up than him just meeting a random 18 year old who just is like, I want to have sex with you. I'm a virgin. Nightmare. Absolute nightmare.
Laura: Um, and then I don't know what else do you want to say about the rest of the story, but I do want to mention Rebecca De Mornay, who kind of comes into the very end.
Ryan: You can quite easily talk about Rebecca De Mornay. We don't need to.
Laura: Because you know how in all of the movies it's all about. Well, at least the first one about Finch having sex with Stifler's mom, milf, all of that. And finally Stifler gets his revenge and he gets to have sex with Finch's mom, who ends up being Rebecca De Mornay, who is glorious and effervescent and shining.
Ryan: Yeah, she's unbelievable.
Laura: And they do a kind of a callback to Risky Business because she says to Stifler, are you ready for me, Stifler? Which is basically what she says in Risky Business. Which is, are you ready for me, Ralph?
Ryan: Yeah. So I haven't seen Risky Business in a long, long time.
Laura: Yeah, you don't want to lay your eyes upon too much Tom Cruise.
Ryan: I mean, it's like looking into the Medusa's eyes. You will turn to Storone if you.
Laura: Look too long, turn to Scientology.
Ryan: Pretty much you. Yeah, like, that is the problem if you don't believe about the aliens in the mountain. What's wrong? What's that with.
Laura: I know you're got toa watch more Risky Business.
Ryan: You should. You should watch more Risky Business.
Laura: The directors talked a lot about the budget for the film. Um, and uh, like, oh, we couldn't do this because of the budget. We couldn't film here. Budget reasons. And this budget reason.
Ryan: Right.
Laura: But they had a 50 million dollar budget. That's a lot of money.
Ryan: I mean, it's reasonable. I mean, it's standard for a comedy of this type, to be fair. 50 million. That's not too bad.
Laura: It made in the box office 235 million. So a success.
Ryan: A very much a success.
Laura: Which is how much American Pie made. So, you know, interesting.
Ryan: Well, that's the thing. American Pie, like when it first came out, was a bit of a phenomenon.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Ryan: You know, um, like it was, I think, yeah, it's kind of like it was a return of those kinds of comedies that were a little bit more raunchy. Because before, like, by this time, you didn't like, there was no super bad. That there was none of that stuff. You know, that stuff obviously came a little bit later, but this was kind of more like your generations, like Animal House or something like that. Porkies or Porkies, you know, that sort of thing, which was kind of. You know, you look back at those now and it's like, uh, no, they're a little bit cheeky. A little bit of a nod and a wink. And I'd even say, like airplanes a little bit like that as well, because that has some stuff in it too.
Laura: But Porkies is pretty gross.
Ryan: Porkys has got's. Got some issues. Yeah, definitely has some issues. But at least, like, you know, you could look at it. You can see, like, where the stem, like, the inspiration for that is and that there's still. There was still an audience for that sort of thing because obviously by the time American Pie came out, we'd had a bunch of, like. For early Brothers movies as well. So we, you know, the 90s was very much a time of, like, things going a little bit more gross out because that's obviously when Jackass and stuff also started and MTV generation, all that sort of thing.
Laura: Hell, yeah.
Ryan: You know, so, you know, there was very much, uh, uh, a gap in the market for something like American Pie to come in and make, uh, a ton of fucking money.
Laura: Yeah. It was time for penises to come back.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not till 2012 for this franchise in particular.
Laura: Yeah. I was thinking about, like, there's something about Mary and Pork and Beans.
Ryan: Barin Ban. Yeah, that's still. Yeah, that was another thing. Gu. I don't know if we own. I don't think we own. There's something about Mary we should, um. But, uh, yeah, that was something that's. That was cut from the TV cut, which is what I was used to, of course, where it's just the shot of his zipper, but it's, like, entwined in it in his. And
00:45:00
Ryan: he's in his junk.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: I didn't see it until we watched it on streaming recently. I was like, holy shit.
Laura: Oh, my gosh.
Ryan: Yeah. That's not even a lie. Yeah. It's not as crazy.
Laura: Wow.
Ryan: Yeah. Imagine thatagine. Imagine something happening to me like that.
Laura: It's terrible.
Ryan: Like, just think about it.
Laura: I'm so sorry you didn't get to see those Balls before, uh, well, I.
Ryan: Mean, I see them now.
Laura: This movie came out in 2012, which is the same year that Shame came out. And Jason Biggs was saying that he thinks that his penis came out right in time, before there was too many penises on screen. He didn't want to have people to be disillusioned by, uh, too many penises.
Ryan: Tah. You don't want to overshadow a Fastbender.
Laura: Well, it's funny that he even talks about himself in the same sentence as Michael Fassbender is like, you know, this year is crazy. You've got Michael Fassbender and me. And I'm like, okay, I never thought that you would have shame an American reunion. Like, kind of talked about in. In the same way, same sentence.
Ryan: It's pretty funny.
Laura: Same. Similar. Not a similar theme, but. No, but, you know.
Ryan: No, that's of the very opposite of sexual, um, Sexual repress of too much sex.
Laura: I don't know about that.
Ryan: Too much.
Laura: Well, do you have anything else you want to add before we go into our ratings?
Ryan: Absolutely no, other than like, if we can spend the next 20 minutes talking.
Laura: About Jon Cho, then John Cho is absolute treasure. Really is. Even in those weird horror movies that.
Ryan: He'S doing now, he does like, weird. Yeah, like sci fi.
Laura: That aiaughter.
Ryan: He did the AI one. He also did another one where didn't, like, his daughter go missing or something?
Laura: The computer one.
Ryan: There's. There's another computer one. Um, yeah. I don't know what it is that he's doing. He is underutilized at the moment. He needs to be in his own comedy. That's what he needs.
Laura: I don't want another Harald and Kumar movie.
Ryan: No, I don't think we need that. I think there's definitely another Harold and Kumar on the horizon, though. Um, I think so. I think there is like, I don't know, Harold. Harold and Kumar get old or some shit, who knows? But, um, yeah, no, like, what's, what's wrong with having him in. In an UPO comedy or something? Like, I would watch that easily, you know, instead of having. Instead of having, you know, um, U. Seth Rogen just fucking A wap a Cho in there. Waap a Cho just wapping Cho Put Cho in there. See how he fares. Be great.
Laura: Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, let's go into our ratings.
Ryan: Um, so what are we covering first? Just the scene itself.
Laura: Yeah, let's do visibility in context for the penis scene.
Ryan: U, uh, U. Um, so like, I try and Think about this slightly differently where I'm thinking, you know, the context and like the visibility and things like that. Like, I want to think about more about its purpose for being there. And it's in a comedy, it's a comedy situation because that's the thing. Like it makes. It has to be funny for that moment to be funny. You can't just see him, um, see a close up of his, of his knob and he's just like standing there and he's like hovering the clear, you know, the clear leadid like over, over, over his piece. It doesn't really make any sense. So for, for them to be like. Yeah, just he's squishing it. So it's like pressed up against the glass and part of it's poking out and things like that. It's uh. Yeah, it serves the purpose of being. It's again, another comedy penis. Yeah, it's a heavy comedy penis. Um, but yeah, I mean it's. I think I remember laughing. So it does, it does it, it does it. Because the thing is, if it's not funny, then it's like, oh, why are we seeing that? Becausee it's just like. It's like looking at an anatomical books. It's like. It's not sexy. No, just they are. You're like, hmm. It's like that's how it works, I suppose.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: It's like. Does mine look like that when I'm just standing there and it's kind of just a bit sad. Like a sad moment of self reflection and it's like, right, okay. But uh, yeah, no, it's all squished and stuff which is, you know, it'kind of what you want. Doesn't that happen it sideways as well? You'like mash it against the window to the door.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Yeah. And it's like just, uh. They are.
Laura: It also happens in that pop star movie which we have not covered
00:50:00
Laura: yet. Oh yeah, he's rolling up the limo window and this wiener is just squished up against the glass.
Ryan: Yeah, that movie is pretty funny.
Laura: Yeahm.
Ryan: Um, but yeah, no, I think if we're gonna go go on that basis and we look at it like that, probably a uh, four. It's pretty high.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Um, u I guess it gets doockked because it could be funnier. But I just don't know what else you would do there, uh, to like make it funnier. Like it gets jammed in a kitchen drawer or something somehow.
Laura: I'HE'S already had it all injured before. We didn't see It.
Ryan: Yeah, but like, I don't know, like to make it funnier, uh, you know, I mean, um, you know, just get it sk. Get it caught on something.
Laura: Terrible.
Ryan: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. So I give it. I give it a 4. 4.
Laura: I'm probably going to just join you there. Out of four. I want to say four and a half, but it'I would only be saying that because I think it's a long time coming. I don't think that the world was ready for it in 1999. I don't think they were ready for a, uh, teenager's penis in American Pie. No, I think that they could have done it in the wedding because like.
Ryan: A pre 18 year old basically.
Laura: Correct. Yeah.
Ryan: So it's kind of like even though.
Laura: He was probably like 21, I think when they filmed that.
Ryan: Well, yeah, of course. It's not like you're watching episode of Barely Legal. They'you know, they're underage. That's not the point.
Laura: Yeah, because they're barely legal.
Ryan: Yeah, exactly.
Laura: So they're legal just a little over.
Ryan: They're little. They're a little over legal.
Laura: 18 years and four days.
Ryan: Not illegal. Yeah, but they don't count the months in court, do they?
Laura: I'm just saying.
Ryan: Right. Okay. Either way.
Laura: But I'm going to say four stars because it's a long time coming. Were all ready for it. I think if he was going to take his wiener out, this would have been the best one to do it. And I think it was a good timing because you got the whole gang back together. This is the best one out of the franchise since the first one. And it's memorable.
Ryan: Debatable. That's debatable. But anyway, carry on.
Laura: You think that the second or the third one are better than this one? Than American Reunion?
Ryan: I think certainly there's some. I think there's actually some funnier moments in the wedding. One than. I think.
Laura: I don't know. That's my opinion. And this is my rating time.
Ryan: And two's got some nostalgia value for me as well because I had that film on videotape.
Laura: Well, this is my time. And I say that this one is the second funniest one after American Pie.
Ryan: Al Right, that's fine. That's okay. I just said it was debatable as all that's fine.
Laura: It's my time.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Stop it.
Ryan: Don't have to go with me. I'll take a shit in the fucking ice box.
Laura: God s so gross. And the guy sticks his Hand in it. He's got poop. Poo all over his fingers. Yeah, it's kind of very funny.
Ryan: Y. It's rough.
Laura: Well, anyway, I know that the balance is off because there's a hell of a lot more female nudity than there is male nudity. But you finally did get there, get a little bit more of a balance. Just a little bit.
Ryan: Just a little bit. But she's very naked for a lot of her sequences.
Laura: This is her first film as well. M and the casting asked for gratuitous amounts of upper female nudity. All right, so. Oh, yeah, if you're gonna do it, do it when you're that age.
Ryan: Yeah, that's probably.
Laura: You have that immortalized on screen.
Ryan: It's true.
Laura: Wouldn't be mad.
Ryan: Isn't she in another stuff?
Laura: I believe so.
Ryan: O. Okay. We just don't know. We just don't know at this present moment in time, so. O.
Laura: Hell'She was in. Oh, that's the wrong person. Oh, I'm googling the wrong people.
Ryan: Oh, man.
Laura: O dear.
Ryan: Oh, God. Did this killer career before it even started. Oh, my God.
Laura: I can't believe somebody else.
Ryan: Yeah. This is awkward.
Laura: Oh, dear.
Ryan: This is incred.
Laura: She was in the Neighbors movie.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: You know, with Seth Rogen and.
Ryan: Yeah, I know. With fucking Eron. Yeah. All right, that's fine. What, the first one or the second one?
Laura: The first one.
Ryan: Wonder.
Laura: Two years after this.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Either way, she is on a faith based American family drama television series that's on Amazon Prime.
Ryan: Hmm.
Laura: M. Oh, dear.
Ryan: Okay, well, let's just. Let's just avoid that. Um, okay, well, let's give our ratings for the movie then. This will probably be completely uninspiring, but.
Laura: Uh, yeah,
00:55:00
Laura: I'm gonna go first. I'm gonna give it four stars. That's too much. That's too much. I don't know. I wrote that when I watched it earlier and I was like, this was really fun. Can I change it? Three and a half.
Ryan: Oh, you can't change it.
Laura: No, I just changed it. Shish. Don't even edit it. It's fine. I can change it in a moment.
Ryan: Are you having a fucking giraffe?
Laura: Three and a half is fine. Uh, ratings and feelings. Life is fluid and I change with the wind. Three and a half. I don't know. I laughed. I think it's funny. There's a wiener in it. It's got a poo pooo icebox. Like, it's. I don't know. S and M. M funny. I don't know, whatever. Leave me alone. You do your rating?
Ryan: Yeah, no, I g. I started on a three. I gave it two and a half. It is straight down the middle and there's things. I mean, Christ, I gave. I gave Craveing three the other day and that film is probably worse than this, but it is far more entertaining.
Laura: Craven. So good.
Ryan: Yeah, I think if I saw Craven again and like Home, I'd hate the fuck out.
Laura: Yeah, it's not for home.
Ryan: It's not for home. It's for the cinema only. But, uh, yeah, I don't. Yeah, two and a half. Two and a half'good for American reunion. Okay, it makes you laugh. It's straight down the middle, but it's. It's a lot of what you've seen before. All those familiar faces of folk who look as though they can barely act.
Laura: They all look the same. They all look the same as when they did in the first one.
Ryan: Yeah, but.
Laura: Yeah, that's fine.
Ryan: Two and a half. But it's a positive two.
Laura: Yeah, it's fine. It's a wouldood. Probably watch again.
Ryan: It's a glass, you know, glass half full, sort of, you know, tipping on.
Laura: The edge of a three tip.
Ryan: Yeah, it's on the edge'A 2.6. But the, yeah, the, uh, the sensible man in me is like. No, no, don't.
Laura: My God. I wrote a four.
Ryan: Can't three and a half said that. I have no idea where your fucking heads at now. It's so weird.
Laura: We're changing fing.
Ryan: Four. Four. Fuck.
Laura: Well, it'the same rating I gave to the second Joker movie.
Ryan: Yeah, I think we might have to have a little conversation.
Laura: We'll have that conversation right after this movie.
Ryan: Fucking terrible.
Laura: Thank you so much for talking about this easy breezy film.
Ryan: This was. Yeah, this was like. This was light relief before we obviously catapult ourselves into the depths of 2025 and wherever that may bring.
Laura: Oh, I'm really scared. I hope it's not too bad.
Ryan: What about our podcasts?
Laura: No, the year ahead. No, the podcast is goingna be.
Ryan: Don't even, Laura. Don't even think about it.
Laura: That stuff doesn't exist.
Ryan: Just put your head in the hole. Uh, like a lovely little ostrich.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Coming to you from dog Years. It's the restaurant at the end of the film.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: I have been Laura.
Ryan: Uh, John Cho.
Laura: And you have been John Cho. Till next time. Bye.
00:58:26