"American Wedding" deserves a warm reception

One of the first rules of Hollywood is that any successful movie deserves a sequel. Because of this, it was inevitable that there would be a third installment in the American Pie series, whether it was good or not.

Tara Reid, Shannon Elizabeth, Mena Suvari, and Chris Klein are all missing in this film, presumably having moved on to bigger and better roles at their local Wal-Mart. While this lack of former main characters is normally a bad sign for a movie, American Wedding makes the best of it, trimming the excessive plot threads seen in American Pie 2 and establishing one cohesive plot.

The story of American Wedding, as the title implies, is about the wedding between Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), just after they graduate from college. As expected, Jim's friends, Kevin, Finch and Stifler, try to get involved in the wedding and hijinks ensue.

Surprisingly, the plot has matured quite a bit from American Pie 2. Instead of the guys concentrating on getting laid, they're working out the details of a wedding. The gross-out comedy is still around, but the situations in which it occurs are more realistic and well-intentioned this time, such as when Stifler engages in a dance-off in a gay bar while the boys are looking for a dress-maker for Michelle.

Despite the fact that the plot revolves around Jim and Michelle's special day, the comedy in this movie comes almost exclusively from Stifler and Jim's dad, once again played by the brilliant Eugene Levy.

Almost every situation where things get serious messed up is a result of Stifler's actions, but it becomes clear over the course of the film that he really is trying to help out, even if he's not all that successful. Levy gives more of the classic advice that made his scenes in the first two films so memorable, but because Jim is in far less compromising positions, it's clear that this advice is far more heartfelt, which makes it all the funnier when it doesn't make sense.

American Wedding is almost certainly the end of this series, and it's a good bookend. The plot is well-written, the comedy is sharp, and there are even several genuinely touching moments thrown in. This wedding is definitely worth attending.

American Wedding receives 4 out of 5 stars.