American Pie (film)
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This article is about the original 1999 film. For the film series, see American Pie (film series).

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American Pie

Theatrical poster
Directed by Paul Weitz
Chris Weitz
Produced by Chris Moore
Chris Weitz
Warren Zide
Written by Adam Herz
Starring Jason Biggs
Chris Klein
Eddie Kaye Thomas
Thomas Ian Nicholas
Seann William Scott
Alyson Hannigan
Tara Reid
Mena Suvari
Eugene Levy
Natasha Lyonne
Shannon Elizabeth
Music by David Lawrence
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) July 9, 1999
Running time 95 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $10 million
Gross revenue $235,483,004 [1]
Followed by American Pie 2
American Pie is a 1999 teen comedy directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, and written by Adam Herz. It was the first film to be directed by the Weitz brothers, and the first film in the American Pie film series. The film was a box-office hit and spawned two direct sequels: American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).
The film concentrates on four boys who make a pact to lose their virginity before their high school graduation. The title of the film refers to a scene in the film in which the lead character is caught masturbating with a pie after previously being told that third base feels "like warm apple pie".
The film ranked 49th on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" list, and ranked 22nd on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted American Pie the 6th greatest comedy film of all time and in 2006 viewers of Channel 4 in the UK voted it 7th in a list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films.
Since the conclusion of the American Pie trilogy, featuring the courtship and marriage of the characters Jim Levenstein and Michelle Flaherty, the American Pie name has gone on to be used as an entity similar to the National Lampoon film series. American Pie has spawned four direct-to-dvd spin-off films bearing the title American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005), The Naked Mile (2006), Beta House (2007) and the The Book of Love (December 2009).
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Location
4 Cameos
5 Soundtrack listing
6 Reception
6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical reaction
7 In popular culture
8 Unrated version
9 References
10 External links
[edit]Plot

Four Michigan high school seniors make a pact to lose their virginity before their high school graduation after a geeky classmate, Chuck Sherman (Chris Owen) claims to have done so at a party at fellow classmate Steve Stifler's (Seann William Scott) house. During this party Kevin and Vicky go upstairs and she performs oral sex on him. After Kevin ejaculates into a full plastic cup of beer on a nightstand in the bedroom while trying to lose his virginity, the cup is placed on the nightstand and Kevin and Vicky leave. Stifler comes in a short time later and as he's seducing his date, picks up the tainted beer and takes a large gulp, resulting in him making a mad rush to the toilet and vomit. Kevin asks him how the pale ale was, and Stifler shouts "Fuck you!" in disgust.
Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas), the initiator of the pact, tries to repair his relationship with his girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid) after they have a serious fight at the party when she accuses him of being with her only for sex. Chris 'Oz' Ostreicher (Chris Klein), who is on the high school lacrosse team with Stifler, joins the jazz choir to pick up girls, as the girls in the band know little of his reputation as an insensitive jock. Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), the mochacchino-drinking sophisticate, pays Vicky's friend Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) $200 to spread rumors around the school of his sexual prowess, hoping that it will increase his chances of success.
Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) pursues Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), an exchange student from (former) Czechoslovakia. After she comes to Jim's house to study with him, she has to change clothes after her ballet practice, so Stifler convinces Jim to set up a webcam so they can watch her change. Jim quickly heads over to Kevin's house to watch her. Once he arrives, Nadia discovers his pornography collection and, to his astonishment, she settles on his bed and begins to look through it.
Kevin urges Jim to go back home, saying this is his best opportunity to lose his virginity. Jim arrives and Nadia orders him to strip. Meanwhile, it becomes apparent that he had incorrectly addressed the email with the web cam link to Kevin and Stifler, having instead sent the link to every mailbox in the school directory; virtually the entire student body (as well as Blink-182 in a cameo) are watching.
As Jim slowly caresses her leg up to her genitals, he climaxes prematurely. As Nadia is about to leave, he convinces her to stay, but upon seeing her nude and touching her pubic area, he climaxes prematurely again, humiliating himself in front of the entire student body. In his desperation, Jim asks band geek Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) to the senior prom as she is apparently the only girl at his school who did not see what happened.
Kevin complained earlier to Jim and all about the fact that Vicky is delaying having sex, and she overheard this comment. Annoyed at him, he vows to make it up to her. Remembering what Jessica has told him, Kevin performs oral sex on her in her bedroom. In her ecstasy, she yells "I'm coming!" loudly and, conveniently, just as her father is about to enter her room to call her down for dinner, preventing him from catching them.
Finch, meanwhile, has his own problems. Stifler, angry that a girl turned him down for the prom because she was waiting for Finch to ask her, as well as the rumor going around that Finch beat him up, puts a laxative into Finch's mochacchino. Finch, being paranoid about the lack of cleanliness in the school restrooms, and unable to go home to use the toilet as he usually does, is tricked by Stifler to use the girls' restroom. Afterward, he emerges before many other fellow students, humiliated and is left dateless.
At the prom, everything seems hopeless for the four boys until Vicky asks the girl that Chuck Sherman claimed to have bedded about her "first time." She proclaims to everyone at the prom that she and Sherman did not have sex at Stifler's party, leaving Sherman embarrassed and making him wet himself. The revelation takes the pressure off of Jim, Kevin, Oz and Finch, and they head to the post-prom party with new hope.
At the after-party at Stifler's house, all four boys fulfill their pledge. Kevin and Vicky have made up and have sex in an upstairs bedroom, but the entire act is very awkward for them. Vicky breaks up with Kevin afterwards on the grounds that they will drift apart when they go to college, with him attending the University of Michigan and her at Cornell University.
Oz confesses the pact to Heather (Mena Suvari), a girl from the jazz choir, and renounces it, saying that just by them being together makes him a winner. They fall in love, begin a relationship and wind up making love on the porch; the reformed Oz, honouring his newfound sensitivity, never confesses what they did.
Finch strays downstairs to the basement recreation room where he meets Stifler's mother (Jennifer Coolidge). She is aroused by his precociousness, and they have sex on the pool table. In the morning Stifler doesn't understand why the door is locked, and upon entering he realizes that his mom has had sex with Finch and faints, unable to believe that his mom and "shitbreak" are together.
Jim and Michelle have sex after he finds out that she is actually not as much of a band geek as she let on and she saw the "Nadia Incident" after all. She accepted his offer to be his date because of it, knowing he was a "sure thing," but she makes him wear two condoms to combat his earlier "problem" with Nadia. Jim is surprised to discover that Michelle behaves unexpectedly aggressively in bed. In the morning he wakes up to find her gone and realizes that she had used him for a one-night stand, which Jim thinks is "cool."
The morning after the prom Jim, Kevin, Oz, and Finch eat breakfast at their favorite restaurant - with the fitting nostalgic name, "Dog Years" - where they toast to "the next step."
[edit]Characters

James Emmanuel "Jim" Levenstein (Jason Biggs) - The main character of the film, a geeky, sexually frustrated guy who finds communicating with girls incredibly difficult.
Christopher "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein) - Oz is a stereotypical jock, who is eventually softened, because of what a college girl said to him about paying attention to a girl's feelings.
Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) - The creator of the pact involving Jim, Oz, and Finch. It is Kevin's older brother Tom who gives him the "Sex Bible," and suggests that the group go to the lake house in American Pie 2.
Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) - A pretentious pseudo-sophisticate, who drinks mocha out of a tiny cup (and will not let people call it coffee), referred to as "shit-break" by Steve Stifler because of his inability to defecate in school bathrooms. He is seduced by Stifler's mother, but has not had sex with anyone his own age.
Victoria "Vicky" Lathum (Tara Reid) - Kevin's girlfriend, who will not let Kevin have sex with her unless everything is perfect.
Steve Stifler (Sean William Scott) - Refers to himself as the "Stiffmeister." He is frequently the victim of "gross-out" moments. He is a confident, popular student, although not well liked by the Band Camp Geeks. He is experienced and appreciated by the opposite sex. Something of a breakout character. Stifler's role increased in every movie, until his part in "American Wedding" was equal to Jim's.
Heather (Mena Suvari) - A sweet and innocent choir girl who eventually falls in love with Oz.
Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) - Vicky's sexually experienced friend.
Noah Levenstein (Jim's Dad) (Eugene Levy) - Jim's apparently geeky father, whose awkward efforts to help Jim often cause more embarrassment than anything, despite his good intentions. He is the only character to appear in all seven American Pie films.
Michelle Annabeth Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) - An eccentric nerd, but unexpectedly a sexually voracious predator, who has many annoying stories about her experiences at band camp (a running gag within the film).
Chuck Sherman (Chris Owen) - (also known as The Sherminator) is a nerdy kid whose (secretly false) revelation that he's lost his virginity prompt Jim, Oz, Kevin and Finch to make their pact. The nickname "Sherminator" comes from his sole attempt at a pick-up line, an awkward joke based on the film The Terminator.
Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) - A tall sexy girl from (former) Czechoslovakia.
Stifler's Mom (Jeanine Stifler) (Jennifer Coolidge) - Stifler's mother, who is often referred to as a MILF.
[edit]Location



West view of the Los Cerritos house used as the Levenstein family home.


Northwest view of the Los Cerritos house.
Much of the film is based on the writer's days at East Grand Rapids High School in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, an upper-middle class suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan.[2][3]
In the film, the town is called "East Great Falls", and the high school sports the same school colors — blue and yellow — along with a similar mascot — the Trailblazers instead of the Pioneers. The restaurant hangout, "Dog Years", is based on Yesterdog, a popular hotdog restaurant in the nearby Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids.[4] The "Central Chicks" and "Central" Lacrosse team that East Great Falls plays against is an amalgam of nearby Forest Hills Central High School and Grand Rapids Central High School.[5]
The movie was actually filmed in Southern California, most notably in Long Beach using Long Beach Unified School District area high schools. Robert A. Millikan High School whose school colors are blue and gold were used for exterior shots and Long Beach Polytechnic High School was used for interior shots, (Los Cerritos, Long Beach, California both schools are located within five miles of the Virginia Country Club and Los Cerritos Neighborhood where Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Donnie Darko were filmed).[6]
[edit]Cameos

Blink-182 make a cameo appearance as the band watching Jim and Nadia during their webcast though drummer Travis is wrongly credited as former Blink-182 drummer "Scott Raynor". Also, when their song "Mutt" is credited, Travis Barker's name is misspelled as "Travis Barkor". The parts were given when Tom Delonge's acting agent reported the film needed a band.
Christina Milian appears as one of the band geeks.
Casey Affleck plays Tom Myers, Kevin's elder brother.
Stacy Fuson, Playmate of the Month for February 1999, appears in the crowd laughing at Finch when he exits the girls' restroom.
[edit]Soundtrack listing

American Pie: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack by Various artists
Released June 29, 1999
Length 46:02
Label Uptown, Universal
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Various artists chronology
American Pie: Music from the Motion Picture
(1999) American Pie 2: Music from the Motion Picture
(2001)
Third Eye Blind - "New Girl"
Tonic - "You Wanted More"
Blink-182 - "Mutt"
Sugar Ray - "Glory"
Super TransAtlantic - "Super down"
Dishwalla - "Find Your Way Back Home"
Bic Runga and Dan Wilson - "Good Morning Baby"
Shades Apart - "Stranger by the Day"
Bachelor Number One - "Summertime"
Goldfinger - "Vintage Queen"
Bic Runga - "Sway"
Loose Nuts - "Wishen"
The Atomic Fireballs - "Man with the Hex"
The following songs were included in the movie but were not featured on the soundtrack:
The Ventures - "Walk Don't Run"
Barenaked Ladies - "One Week"
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - "Going To Hell"
Third Eye Blind - "Semi-Charmed Life"
Oleander - "I Walk Alone"
Hole - "Celebrity Skin"
Everclear - "Everything to Everyone"
Harvey Danger - "Flagpole Sitta"
Duke Daniels - "Following a Star"
Simon & Garfunkel - "Mrs. Robinson"
BT featuring Jan Johnston - "Anomaly (Calling Your Name)"
Etta James - "At Last"
[edit]Reception


Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2010)
[edit]Box office
Took in a gross revenue of $ 235,483,004.[citation needed]
[edit]Critical reaction
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt American Pie was "one of the shallowest and the most prurient teen films."[7] Robert Horton of Film.com wrote that American Pie "had a few amusing bits, however the audience should strongly note that the movie is really awful, and that it was not worthy of guilty pleasure status."[8] Jim Sullivan of The Boston Globe wrote that American Pie is a "gross and tasteless high school romp with sentimental mush."[9] American Pie holds a 59% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes[10] and a score of 58/100 ("mixed or average reviews") from Metacritic.[11]
[edit]In popular culture

The film popularized the term MILF (Mother I'd Like to Fuck). The phrase is first uttered by actor John Cho in a scene in which two guys are looking at a picture of Stifler's mom. The phrase is now common in pornography featuring women in their late 20s and higher.
Jason Biggs appears in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) as himself, in which he is referred to as "the guy who fucked the pie". He then goes into an angry rant about how he's tired of it being the only thing he is known for, despite his numerous other films. Later in the film, when being falsely arrested due to a case of mistaken identity, he shouts "Don't you know who I am? Look at me, I'm the pie fucker!" The arresting officer then comments: "In prison, you'll be the pie!"
[edit]Unrated version

Two versions of the movie have been released: the theatrical R-Rated and the Unrated Version. To obtain an R-Rating the movie had to be cut slightly. Altogether eleven scenes were altered.[12]
[edit]References

^ Boxofficemojo.com
^ Adam Herz — Biography
^ The Michigan Daily Online
^ Yesterdog : History Page "Good Ole Hot Dogs" at 1505 Wealthy, Grand Rapids, Michigan, restaurant
^ American Pie Movie Easter Egg
^ American Pie Filming Locations
^ NYtimes.com
^ Metacritic.com
^ Metacritic.com
^ Rottentomatoes.com
^ Metacritic.com
^ Movie-Censorship.com
[edit]External links