| American Wedding | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Jesse Dylan |
| Produced by | Chris Moore Warren Zide Craig Perry Adam Herz Chris Bender Paul Weitz Chris Weitz |
| Written by | Adam Herz |
| Based on | Characters by Adam Herz |
| Starring | Jason Biggs Alyson Hannigan Thomas Ian Nicholas Eddie Kaye Thomas Seann William Scott Fred Willard Eugene Levy Jennifer Coolidge January Jones Fred Willard |
| Music by | Christophe Beck |
| Cinematography | Lloyd Ahern |
| Editing by | Stuart Pappé |
| Studio | LivePlanet Zide/Perry Productions |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 2003 |
| Running time | 96 minutes 103 minutes (Unrated cut) |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $55 million |
| Box office | $231,449,203[1] |
American Wedding (also known as American Pie 3: The Wedding, American Pie: The Wedding, or just simply American Pie 3) is a 2003 comedy film that is a sequel to American Pie and American Pie 2 as part of the American Pie series. It was written by Adam Herz and directed by Jesse Dylan. The story has the friends from the first two films coming together again, this time to celebrate the wedding of Jim and Michelle.
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The film begins with Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) and Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan) having dinner, celebrating their college graduation. Jim intends to propose to Michelle, but receives a phone call from his dad, who says he forgot the engagement ring at home and was on his way. As Jim tries to stall, Michelle gets the impression that he wants a public sex act and proceeds to perform fellatio on him under the table. When Mr. Levenstein (Eugene Levy) arrives, Jim tries to hide the fact that he is being fellated. Not knowing Michelle is 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 is left of his pride and asks Michelle to marry him. She readily agrees.
As planning begins, Jim worries that the wedding will be a disaster. His obnoxious friend Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott), now a football coach at the gang's former high school, crashes the couple's engagement party and drops the cake on himself, just as everyone is about to meet Michelle's parents, Harold and Mary. One of the couple's dogs begins licking the cake off Stifler, and while Jim is trying to stop it, he gets attacked by the other dog. While all this is going on, Harold and Mary walk in on what appears to be Jim and Stifler having sex with their two dogs, and the couple is horrified.
The wedding dress Michelle finally settles on after long hours of searching is made by only one designer working for one store, so Jim, Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), with Stifler tagging along, set out to find the dress maker for her. They go to Chicago looking for "Leslie Sommers" (thinking they are looking for a woman) and end up in a gay bar. Initially, the patrons are put off by Stifler's homophobic behavior, but he eventually wins them over by competing in a dance-off with a bar regular named Bear, and Leslie (who is actually a man) agrees to make the dress, with Bear also offering to provide strippers for Jim's bachelor party. In the meantime, Michelle's younger sister, Cadence (January Jones) flies in for the wedding. Both Finch and Stifler are attracted to her, and in an effort to win her over, they each adopt the other's personality and mannerisms.
Jim is worried about dancing at the wedding, but salvation comes in the form of Stifler, who has taken dance lessons. Stifler only teaches Jim to dance on the condition he be allowed to attend the wedding and plan the bachelor party, with Stifler agreeing to tone down his obnoxious personality for Michelle's parents in exchange. In the meantime, Stifler arranges the party for everyone at Jim's house except Jim, who unknowingly has arranged a 'special dinner' for Michelle's parents before the wedding. Bear introduces the three to Fraulein Brandi (Amanda Swisten) and Officer Krystal (Nikki Schieler Ziering), who play submissive and dominant roles with them.
Suddenly, the party is abruptly halted by the unexpected return of Jim, Harold and Mary. Although the partygoers nearly succeed in keeping their presence and activities a secret, Michelle's mother opens a closet door and is shocked to find Kevin inside, stripped to his boxers and tied to a chair. The boys explain that it was an attempt to make Jim seem like a hero that went horribly wrong, and Michelle's parents accept this explanation, with Mary even apologizing for putting too much pressure on Jim and telling him that if he puts that much effort into the upcoming marriage, she can give him her blessing.
As the ceremony draws near, a series of mishaps occur in the days leading up to the big event. First, while shaving his pubic region, Jim inadvertently dumps the trimmings too close to an air vent connected to the hotel kitchen, causing them to get into the air and stick to the wedding cake, which ends up being tossed out as result. Later, while spending time with Cadence and playing with Harold and Mary's dogs, Stifler accidentally tosses the couple's wedding ring (which he was placed in charge of) out of his pocket, which one of the dogs consumes, forcing Stifler to retrieve it from their fecal matter. When Jim's grandmother arrives, she is displeased to learn that Michelle is not Jewish, and tries to discourage Jim from marrying her. Finally, on the night before the wedding, Stifler inadvertently disrupts the walk-in refrigerator's power supply, essentially turning it into an oven and killing the many flowers put together for the ceremony. Previously, Stifler, unaware of Cadence's presence, had revealed his true rude and obnoxious personality. Angered and stunned, Jim tells him to leave, while all the others including Cadence support Jim's decision.
Feeling guilty for his thoughtless behavior, Stifler convinces the local florist to put together a new batch of flowers, and he enlists his football players to help. As a gesture of remorse, he also gives a rose to Cadence, much to the amazement of Jim and Michelle. Moved by his actions, Cadence agrees to have sex with him before the ceremony, but Stifler's presence is delayed by a brief thank-you meeting Jim calls among his groomsmen. Quickly returning to the hotel, Stifler hears someone in the supply closet and steps inside, but due to the closet's poor lighting, it is only when he gets inadvertently walked in on that Stifler realizes he's actually having sex with Jim's grandmother, who was placed in the closet by the ushers to stop her constant complaining!
Despite the chaotic events leading up to it, Michelle and Jim eventually get married, Jim's father even remarking on how happy his mother suddenly seems (punctuated by her winks and flirty waves in Stifler's direction). At the reception, the newly married couple dances while Stifler dances with Cadence. Meanwhile, Finch is sitting by himself when Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge) arrives. Although agreeing they are over each other, Mrs. Stifler mentions having a double suite and invites Finch to join her. The film ends with Stifler's mom and Finch in her suite's couple-size bathtub, having sex.
Originally, there was going to be a subplot about Stifler's mom remarrying Stifler's dad, with Finch rushing to the ceremony to try to stop it. Tim Allen and Chris Penn were both attached at various points in the film's production to play the part.
The film is notable for the absences of several of its supporting characters from the first two films, including: Chris "Oz" Ostreicher (Chris Klein), Chuck Sherman (Chris Owen), Heather (Mena Suvari), Vicky (Tara Reid), Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), Matt Stifler (Eli Marienthal), Jessica (Natasha Lyonne), and Tom Myers (Casey Affleck). This is because the creators of the previous films noted it was near impossible to create interesting storylines for all of the main characters except 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.
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. It is also the first of the American Pie films not to feature a blink-182 song.
The song "Into the Mystic", played at the end of the film 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 due to licensing reasons.
| American Wedding | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | ||||
| Released | August 1, 2003 | |||
| Label | Uptown/Universal | |||
| Various Artists chronology | ||||
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| No. | Title | Performed by | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Times Like These" | Foo Fighters | |
| 2. | "The Anthem" | Good Charlotte | |
| 3. | "Forget Everything" | New Found Glory | |
| 4. | "The Hell Song" | Sum 41 | |
| 5. | "Swing, Swing" | The All-American Rejects | |
| 6. | "I Don't Give" | Avril Lavigne | |
| 7. | "Laid" | Matt Nathanson | |
| 8. | "The Art of Losing" | American Hi-Fi | |
| 9. | "Fever for the Flava" | Hot Action Cop | |
| 10. | "Give Up the Grudge" | Gob | |
| 11. | "Bouncing Off The Walls" | Sugarcult | |
| 12. | "Come Back Around" | Feeder | |
| 13. | "Any Other Girl" | NU | |
| 14. | "Beloved" | The Working Title | |
| 15. | "Calling You" | Blue October | |
| 16. | "Honey and the Moon" | Joseph Arthur | |
| 17. | "Into the Mystic" | The Wallflowers |
Songs that appear on Stifler's dance in the gay bar:
American Wedding was released in the United States on August 1, 2003 and opened at #1 with $33,369,440 before dropping 53.7% the next weekend, landing at #3 behind the new releases of S.W.A.T. and Freaky Friday.[2] Closing about 3.5 months later (November 20, 2003), the film had grossed a domestic total of $104,565,114 and $126,884,089 overseas for a worldwide total of $231,449,203, based on a $55 million budget.[1]
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 55% "Rotten" based on 146 reviews.[3]
A "main series" sequel, titled American Reunion, is currently in the works set to be released April 6, 2012. The film revolves around the class of 1999 returning to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion. As of July 2011, all of the original cast have signed on to reprise their roles.
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