American Wedding
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| American Wedding | |
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 American Wedding film poster |
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| Directed by | Jesse Dylan |
| Produced by | Chris Moore Warren Zide |
| Written by | Adam Herz |
| Starring | Jason Biggs Seann William Scott Alyson Hannigan Eugene Levy |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 2003 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$55,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | US$231,449,203 [1] |
| Preceded by | American Pie 2 |
| Followed by | Band Camp (spinoff) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
American Wedding (also known as American Pie: The Wedding outside of America or American Pie 3) is a 2003 sequel to the comedy films American Pie (1999) and American Pie 2 (2001) it is the third film in the American Pie Presents series. It was written by Adam Herz and directed by Jesse Dylan. The story has the friends from the first two films getting together again, this time to celebrate the wedding of Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan).
The film was released in the United States on August 1, 2003, and grossed $104 million in the USA and $123 million overseas on a budget of $55 million. The film is notable for the absences of several of its supporting characters from the first two films, including: Oz (Chris Klein), Sherman (Chris Owen), Heather (Mena Suvari), Vicky (Tara Reid), Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), and Jessica (Natasha Lyonne). This is because the creators of the previous movies noted it was near impossible to create interesting story lines for all of the main characters, exception being the character Oz, who was originally going to be included, but was written out due to scheduling conflicts. It is also the first (and only) film in the series to be shot in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Taglines:
This time they're going all the way.
Forever hold your piece.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film begins with Jim Levenstein and Michelle having dinner, celebrating their college graduation. Jim intends to propose to Michelle, but receives a phone call from his dad, who says he forgot to give Jim the wedding ring and was on his way. As Jim tries to stall, Michelle gets the impression that he wants a public sex act, by performing oral sex on him under the table. When Mr Levenstein arrives, Jim tries to hide the fact that he's being fellated. Not knowing Michelle was under the table, Jim's dad expresses his excitement at the proposal. Then, after Michelle bumps her head under the table in shock at hearing about the proposal, all chaos ensues as Jim ends up exposed and has to hike his pants up quickly. Saving face, he swallows what's left of his pride and asks Michelle to marry him. She says yes.
As planning begins, Jim worries that the wedding will be a disaster. Michelle's parents hate him after an accidental scene in which Jim appears to be having sex with their two dogs. Michelle's wedding dress is made by only one designer working for one store, so Jim sets out to find the dress maker for her. And Jim can't dance, but salvation comes in the form of Stifler, who took dance lessons. However, Stifler only teaches Jim to dance on the condition he allow Stifler to attend the wedding (Jim and Michelle had planned to leave Stifler in the dark about the whole event, but he found out accidentally after crashing their engagement party), and that he gets to plan the bachelor party.
Michelle's sister Cadence attends the wedding, and Finch is quickly attracted to her. Sadly, so is Stifler. Upon hearing that Cadence is hoping to attract a decent guy, Stifler adopts a more meek attitude and acts like Finch, and avoids swearing and speaks of philosophy and art, mostly just quoting things Finch has said in the past. But when Finch realizes that Cadence is beginning to tire of the intellectual Stifler, Finch acts rude, crude, and perverted: in other words, like Stifler as he heard Cadence being tired of 'decent guys' while eavesdropping on Michelle and Cadence's conversation at the airport lavatory. However, Cadence begins to catch on that her two suitors are acting like each other, so the question of who she'll choose becomes more complicated. In the end however, Stifler kills the flowers the night before the wedding, and actually feels bad about it, prompting him to bring in the football team he coaches to set up the entire church with new flowers. Cadence chooses Stifler, and Finch admits that Stifler was probably better for her. Stifler, angry that he can't hate Finch after such a noble remark, is quickly reminded that Finch did sleep with his mother... twice.
The film features several trademark infamous scenes like the first two films. Stifler is charged with taking care of the bride's wedding ring, but he accidentally feeds it to a dog. Waiting for the dog to defecate, Stifler retrieves the ring in a chocolate wrapper and goes to wash it, but is intercepted by Michelle's mother. Mistaking the by-product for a truffle, Michelle's mother attempts to eat it, giving Stifler no other choice but to eat it himself to save face. Later, during the ceremony, Stifler takes a moment to quickly sniff the ring before handing it to Jim.
Michelle and Jim eventually get married. At the reception, they dance while Stifler dances with Cadence. Finch is sitting by himself when Stifler's mom arrives. They tell each other they are over each other. However, at the end of the movie it shows Stifler's mom and Finch in the tub having sex. The two men who were supposed to be watching Jim's grandma (John Cho and Justin Isfield, the ushers for the wedding) are watching in awe from the window as Finch goes under the bubbles.
[edit] Cast
- Jason Biggs as Jim Levenstein
- Seann William Scott as Steve Stifler
- Alyson Hannigan as Michelle Flaherty
- Eddie Kaye Thomas as Paul Finch
- Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kevin Myers
- January Jones as Cadence Flaherty
- Eugene Levy as Noah Levenstein (Jim's Dad)
- Molly Cheek as Jim's Mom
- Deborah Rush as Mary Flaherty
- Fred Willard as Harold Flaherty
- Angela Paton as Grandma Levinstein
- Eric Allan Kramer as Bear/Mr. Belvedere
- Amanda Swisten as Fraulein Brandi
- Nikki Schieler Ziering as Officer Krystal
- Alexis Thorpe as Jennifer
- John Cho as John
- Jennifer Coolidge as Janine Stifler (Stifler's mom)
[edit] Music
The film's soundtrack includes songs by Van Morrison, Blue October, The Working Title, Foo Fighters, Feeder, Avril Lavigne, American Hi-Fi, Sum 41, the All-American Rejects, Joseph Arthur, New Found Glory and Hot Action Cop. Badly Drawn Boy and The Libertines also have songs in the feature. Note that most songs used were already singles. And, this is the first film to feature the song "Laid" (Matt Nathanson covering the band James) in both the trailers and the opening sequence. Notably, it is also the only film to not play the song "Mrs. Robinson" in a scene where Finch has sex with Stifler's mother.
The song Into the Mystic, played at the end of the movie when Jim and Michelle take to the dance floor at the reception, begins as Van Morrison's recording, but midway through it changes to The Wallflowers' cover version.
This is the first film not to feature Blink-182 in the soundtrack.
[edit] Casting
Chris Klein did not appear in this film because the producers felt there was no storyline for his character and his girlfriend Heather. His character, Chris Ostreicher, is not mentioned at all in the film as a result. A deleted scene revealed that Oz would have been able to get back from Spain for the originally planned wedding date. Thomas Ian Nicholas had a greatly reduced role as Kevin Myers.
[edit] Production
Originally there was going to be a subplot about Stifler's Mom remarrying Stifler's Dad, with Finch rushing to the ceremony to try and stop it. Tim Allen and Chris Penn were both attached at various points in the film's production to play the part.
[edit] Pop culture references
- When Stifler gets angry with Jim and says "Don't push me 'cuz I'm close to the edge; I'm trying not to lose my head," he is reciting lyrics from "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" |
List of Box Office #1 Movies August 3, 2003 |
Succeeded by "S.W.A.T." |
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