“American Reunion” is like a movie that’s become a zombie: a franchise that has risen from the grave of straight-to-video sequels to bring back the no-longer-youthful original cast for one more (hopefully lucrative) go-round.
The stench of desperation permeates this film, a sequel to the 1999 gross-out hit and its many offspring. This one tries to recapture the same inappropriate zest as the original, whose biggest moment involved poor Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs), caught in the act of having masturbatory sex with a fresh apple pie by his hilariously horrified father (the masterful Eugene Levy).
Levy still offers the comic high points of “Reunion,” a film built around the Class of ’99’s 13th high-school reunion (since they never got it together to have a 10th). Each of the original gang shows up with secrets and baggage, aimed at inducing gasps of surprised laughter.
But the bar has been raised significantly since the release of the original (and overrated) “American Pie,” a film which didn’t set the bar all that high to begin with. The “Harold & Kumar” movies far eclipsed “American Pie” in the ability to be nasty, smart and gross, all at the same time.
This review continues on my website.