In American Wedding, the gang has just graduated from college. As they step into the next chapter of their lives, Jim Livinstein (Jason Biggs) asks his college sweetheart, Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) to marry him. Of course, in keeping with the American Pie tradition, even the proposal becomes more complicated and messed up than any person deserves.
As the movie continues, Jim realizes that he needs to learn how to dance and the only one who can help him is Stifler (Seann William Scott). After a deal is struck, the main focus of the movie actually starts (no, the wedding doesn't seem to be American Wedding's plot). Stifler meets Michelle's sister, Cadence, and both he and Finch find themselves in a war to win her affection. Most of the movie involves Stifler trying to hide his true nature from Cadence and her parents. But he ends up paying for his deceiving nature seeing as along the way, he ends up digesting yet another bodily byproduct (and I must say, this is the only time any movie has ever made me gag). Can anyone say chocolate truffles? Sure, I knew you could.
This brings me to one of my gripes about American Wedding - the fact that it focuses too heavily on Stifler. I tend to have a problem when a series suddenly changes its focus to one of the (previously) minor characters. Yes, I know Seann William Scott is one of the new names out there and I have nothing against him or his movies. I am a big fan of Bulletproof Monk and The Rundown, but it seems like this movie was all about the Stifmiester. Yes, the story line that was advertised was there (Jim and Michelle's wedding), but it seemed like the main focus of the plot was Stifler's desire to 'bone' Cadence.
The only other real problem I had with the movie is the distinct lack of Oz. You remember him right? The guy jock who joined the choir in High School and fell in love. The one who trusted his girlfriend as she went to Europe while they were in college, yeah -- where is he in this movie, or her for that matter? The rest of the group carry on as if the pair never existed.
At least some of the other main characters were mentioned. There was a brief discussion of Nadia, and even Kevin's girlfriend was brought up. Hell, I would have been satisfied if they had just said something like, 'Too bad Oz is working his way up Mount Everest right now, otherwise he would be here.' I mean, give some excuse -- any, it doesn't even have to be a good one, but don't completely ignore the character's existence.
Okay - deep breath.
Anyway, the movie also comes with a montage of outtakes, and several deleted scenes introduced by Adam Hertz. There is even a segment called Stifler Speak where Hertz and Seann William Scott explain exactly how to speak Stifler. American Wedding also has two sets of commentaries, one with Hertz and Scott, and another sporting Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Thomas Ian Nicholas.
Basically it comes down to this. Did you like the previous two American Pie movies? If you did then you will enjoy this one. It has the same style of gags, and the same awkward situations. The only real problems I had with it were its missing characters and the heavy Stifler-ness of it.
