American Pie: The Threesome Collection (1999)

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       The American Pie trilogy punched well above its weight. They were relatively cheaply made films, which started out with unknown actors and directors, that went on to become stand-out films in the coming-of-age sex-teen-comedy genre. With a hilarious combination of gross-out humour, adorably sweet characters and good old fashioned sentimentality, the American Pie trilogy was much funnier than it should have been, and certainly far more lucrative than the producers, distributors, exhibitors, cast or crew expected.

    American Pie - The Threesome is a four disc DVD set containing the American Pie trilogy, plus an extras disc entitled American Pie Revealed. This extras disc presents a collection of extras relating to all three films, and fans of the movies will find most of the content interesting, and at times entertaining.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

American Pie: Collector's Edition (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Spotlight On Location (10:05) Audio Commentary-P Weitz (Dir), C Weitz (Prod), A Herz (Writ),et al Outtakes-(2:33) Music Highlights Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer DVD-ROM Extras-Web Site
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	91:25
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Paul Weitz
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Jason Biggs Chris Klein Natasha Lyonne Thomas Ian Nicholas Tara Reid Mena Suvari Eugene Levy
Case	Brackley-Trans-No Lip
RPI	$36.95	Music	David Lawrence

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, very much
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I actually wonder about the target audience of these movies. I suspect the studio executives think that these movies appeal to a teen audience, which is why many of them are toned-down in content. My belief is that these movies actually appeal to the thirty-somethings, who aren't quite too old to remember the awkwardness of their "first time" and the rampant hormones of their youth, and who can relate to the misfortunes that the lead characters inevitably go through. Indeed, these movies are always ensemble pieces, allowing us to follow the trials and tribulations of a group of friends, usually with parallel story lines.

    Enough philosophizing! American Pie was deliberately made for an "R" rating in the US, rather than aiming for a "PG" rating. That means more bad language, and more explicit sex (or lack thereof) scenes. That can't be a bad thing. Rather than naming all of the ensemble cast members and describing their relationships with the other cast members, I will simply say that four very horny teenage virgin boys make a pact to lose their virginity by Prom night. Throw in a few peripheral male characters who help the story along, and a number of teenage girls of varying degrees of experience and horniness, cable TV, an (infamous) apple pie, stir, and you have American Pie.

    The mix works well once you get the main characters sorted out in your head, which takes some time, as they are introduced at a break-neck speed at the start of the movie. I felt that the start of the movie was a tad cruder than it needed to be, in a somewhat blatant attempt to shock its audience, but once we get into the movie proper, after the pact has been made, the movie picks up considerably and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Of particular note is Eugene Levy, Jim's father, who plays his role to perfection and had me in stitches every time he was on screen.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of precisely 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced. This is a trend that I have noticed more and more recently, and it is to be applauded - more and more movies on DVD are being presented in their precisely correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio rather than having their matte slightly opened to 1.78:1 which was the case earlier with DVD. It is still not happening nearly enough, but Fox certainly seem to frequently do it, and Universal appear to be following suit.

    The transfer was sharp and clear, but one of the problems with this transfer was the excessive use of edge enhancement. There was many a time when a clear white or black halo surrounded the actors' heads in quite a noticeable fashion. If you've never seen what edge enhancement looks like, or don't know exactly what it is, take a look at 33:08 - 33:29 and look at the white outline around Chris Klein's head. This is not the only example of edge enhancement in this movie - it is frequently present to an excessive degree. Whilst edge enhancement will make a DVD look better on small or mis-adjusted TV sets, it detracts from the image on larger and properly calibrated display equipment.

    Another problem with the early part of the transfer was that it was very dark, a little too dark in my opinion. The white level returns to a more satisfactory level about 20 minutes into the transfer.

    Shadow detail is good, as is to be expected from contemporary film stock and a contemporary DVD transfer.

    There is no low level noise.

    The colours were a tad muted in the early part of the film, which as mentioned previously appeared a little too dark, but picked up after this point and were perfect from there on in.

    There was some very minor MPEG artefacting during the end credits, most likely a direct result of the excessive use of edge enhancement. Film to video artefacts consisted of the odd segment of moderately severe aliasing, particular of the venetian blinds in Jim's room. Film artefacts were extremely rare, with the only significant one coming just before the end credits roll.

    The packaging for this DVD indicates that the disc is dual layered. It is not.

    Finally, in regards to the video transfer, conspiracy theorists will be intrigued to know that the Xing software DVD player cannot play this DVD, showing the typical visual signs of failure to decrypt the CSS encryption, so it seems as if the Xing DVD player key has been removed from this DVD. This is actually an appalling anti-consumer action on the part of the DVD authors - legitimate Xing DVD player owners are unable to play this DVD - I wonder about the outcry this should and will cause. Imagine the outcry that would occur if the DVD Copy Control Association were to remove the keys for other more popular players from the DVD specification. A player that you paid good money for is suddenly rendered useless for future DVD releases. The precedent that this sets is frightening.

Audio

    There is only a single audio track on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.1. The overall level of this soundtrack was a little on the low side, and you will enjoy it more if you crank it up a notch.

    Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand. This was in fact a high point of the audio transfer, as dialogue was frequently competing with significant ambient sound, and was always mixed perfectly so as to be completely understandable at all times.

    Audio sync was ever so slightly out for the first 18 minutes or so, and then settled down to be perfectly in sync. I suspect that the average viewer of this DVD will not notice any audio sync problems, but I have become hypersensitive to the slightest hint of an audio sync problem as of late.

    The score by David Lawrence struck quite a chord with me, and I enjoyed it immensely. It is relatively laid back and features a goodly amount of guitar work which made for very pleasant listening. It was nicely tied in to the on-screen action, augmenting the emotions created by the actors.

    The surround channels were used moderately for music and ambience, and helped to involve you in the movie.

    The .1 channel was used moderately to support the music in the soundtrack and remained subtle and pleasing in its integration with the overall mix of the soundtrack. An appropriate (and MA-rated) main menu animation helps to maintain the overall tone of the movie.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

• Jim on the kitchen table making love to the apple pie. This scene is sort-of included in the outtakes on the Region 4 DVD.
• More explicit Internet imagery of Nadia masturbating.

• Theatrical trailers for other movies (5)
• Music Video - You Wanted More - Tonic

    I would declare that the Region 1 and Region 4 DVDs are equivalent in this case.

    The video quality is good, but excessive edge enhancement does mar the transfer somewhat.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are excellent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

American Pie 2: Collector's Edition (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-The Baking Of American Pie 2 Audio Commentary-J.B. Rogers (Director) Audio Commentary-Adam Herz (Writer) Audio Commentary-J Biggs (Act), M Suvari (Act) & T Ian Nicholas (Act) Audio Commentary-Eddie Kaye Thomas (Actor) Outtakes Deleted Scenes Music Video-Be Like That-3 Doors Down Featurette-Your Favorite Piece Of Pie (10) Featurette-Classic Quotes (15) Music Highlights Theatrical Trailer-with Jason Biggs intro Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew DVD-ROM Extras dts Trailer-Piano
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	106:10
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (66:42)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	J.B. Rogers
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Jason Biggs Shannon Elizabeth Alyson Hannigan Chris Klein Natasha Lyonne Thomas Ian Nicholas Tara Reid Seann William Scott Mena Suvari Eddie Kaye Thomas Eugene Levy
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	David Lawrence

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes, Mrs. Stiffler of course.
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, everyone drinks Pepsico drinks.
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Fortunately, for what could have been a very lame effort at simply getting bums on seats for minimal effort, American Pie 2 goes all out to give its audience exactly what they want. It has been criticised for being unoriginal and a watered down clone of the original - but that is what the audience wanted the first time, so why not give it to them again? Certainly, the comedy is slightly more mature this time around, relying a lot more heavily on slapstick (Jason Biggs it seems is a fairly accomplished physical comedian) than on gross-out elements, but then the audience for the original Pie have grown up a bit since then, too. There is certainly still enough here to keep the pre-to-mid teens interested as well (the "lesbian" scene being an obvious hook), but the story has moved on from "get laid" to deeper themes like finding the meaning of friendship, and working out what you truly want.

    In a movie like this there is no real reason to do a plot synopsis - it is as predictable as a train on a track, and any slight deviations to what could be considered a certainty are flagged so far out as to be completely unsurprising when they eventuate, but for the sake of completeness, here it is. The time is a year after the events of the first American Pie, and this time the guys have all just finished their first year of college. They return home to find that while everything looks the same, things are somehow not the same. So, thanks to some advice from Kevin's brother, they all decide to head off to the lake (Lake Michigan) for the summer. There are a few complications of course. Oz (Chris Klein) and Heather (Mena Suvari) are still together, but Heather is off to Europe for the summer. Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) is back in America and is coming to see Jim (Jason Biggs) at the end of the summer - which of course has Jim terrified that he will repeat the performance of their previous sexual encounter. Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Vicky (Tara Reid) meet again for the first time since the prom of the previous year, and must deal with what their relationship is. All this drama of course simply sets the scene for some very funny moments, with the highlight being Jim's trip to Band Camp to find Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). The guys also take a summer job as painters, but that is not really explored except for the two occupants of the house they are painting.

    The simple fact is that the obvious crafting of movie to exactly match expectations works. American Pie 2 is a far more watchable movie than the first (and that is not solely because Alyson Hannigan has a larger part), and it does not pale with multiple viewings, unlike the first that was really a one-trick wonder. The reason it works is that Universal did something that is almost unprecedented for a sequel - managed to reassemble the entire primary cast from the first movie - that's 11 members. On top of that, there are a number of more minor characters from the first film, such as The Shermin-ator (Chris Owen), the MILF guys (John Cho and Justin Isfeld), and Stiffler's little brother (Eli Marienthal). This really helps to give the movie a feel that it is a continuation of the first movie, and just as the actors have been able to go back to characters they created the first time around, the audience has been able to journey along with them again without first having to get to know them.

    What we have here is the "unrated" DVD. Of course, you can't actually have "unrated" content in Australia - that would be illegal - and this version in fact obtained the same rating as the theatrical version. Despite that, it does include extended scenes involving people in various stages of undress, but most are of the harmless variety, simply re-introducing some scenes that were taken out of the theatrical version for pacing reasons. As such, this is more of a "directors cut" than an extra-raunchy version a la the original and Road Trip.

    So the question becomes - should there be an American Pie 3? Personally I would have to say no (well, that is unless they decide to put Alyson Hannigan's character in every scene), but then again, I would not have recommended making a second. In the end, the enormous box office success that was American Pie 2 will pretty much guarantee a sequel of sorts is made - whether the feat of reassembling the entire cast can be achieved twice remains to be seen, but if they do we may all be sitting down in a couple of years to see what Jim, Kevin, Oz, Stiffler, Finch, and the girls are up to. Maybe American Pie 3 - Jim Gets a Job?

Video

    Presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio - cropped from the theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 - this transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

    This transfer is extremely sharp. There is not a single scene that could have benefited from a sharper transfer. There was a constant presence of background grain, but it never broke out sufficiently to become a problem, and was only noticeable if specifically looked for. Shadow detail was also very good, although the almost complete lack of dimly-lit scenes in this movie almost makes that a non-issue. There was no low-level noise detected.

    Colours were very good, displaying the vibrant sets and locations in vivid detail. While this film could never be accused of containing any set design or shot composition that could be described as detailed or intricate, what there is shows up more than nicely.

    There were no compression artefacts at all in this transfer. The only aliasing present consisted of a very few minor instances - and would most likely have gone unnoticed if not specifically looked for. The worst offender, and it is quite innocuous, is on Alyson Hannigan's flute at 93:54. Film artefacts were present, but very rare. When they did show up they were only momentary, and quite small. The largest occurs at 99:29, and is a vertical black line in the bottom left of frame. As this is the worst, the film artefacts cause no problems.

    The subtitles are very attractively rendered, very nicely paced, and are quite accurate. During the sample I checked, there were no instances where the impact of the dialogue was reduced by the difference between the subtitles and the spoken dialogue.

    This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change taking place at 66:42 during Chapter 13. While it is not the best placement possible for a layer change, it is not too bad as it breaks no dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are six audio tracks present on this disc. These consist of two English dialogue tracks, one a Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 384 Kbps, the other a half-bitrate DTS 5.1 track at 768 Kbps, and four commentary tracks, all in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround at 192 Kbps.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. The mixing levels were spot on, as dialogue, score and general audio all combined very well to produce a natural sound.

    Audio sync is where the biggest problem with this transfer lies - and the problem is worst in the DTS track. On a number of occasions, the audio sync goes out by a fair margin. By far the worst example is the sequence between 20:31 and 21:50, but there are a number of other occurrences scattered throughout the film. What is strange is that while the Dolby Digital track only gives a slight impression of being out at these times, the DTS track is very obviously out.

    So to the music, and again we encounter the standard teen comedy fare - a combination of score music (provided in this instance by David Lawrence) and a collection of contemporary numbers. In this case the score is quite good, doing its job well and generally staying unnoticed - certainly David Lawrence is not going to win any Oscars with this one, but neither is he likely to be out of work. The contemporary numbers are more of a hit and miss affair - when they work the familiarity can quite easily lift a scene, but some really seem to jar with their placing, brining down the scene. Overall however, the music in American Pie 2 is very well done.

    As far as surround sound goes, this is another disappointing aspect of this transfer. For the most part, the soundfield is very frontal. Across the fronts, the separation is quite good, but I had to get up on a number of occasions and check my surround speakers simply to ensure that there was sound coming from the surrounds. Unfortunately, neither the DTS nor Dolby Digital tracks are better than the other in this regard, so we are saddled with an extremely front-heavy soundtrack. The only times the surround channels come to life are for the occasional ambient noise, and then they disappear after that scene only to reappear many minutes later for a short period of time. This uneven approach is quite disturbing, and makes for a very disappointing soundtrack.

    The subwoofer is not used extensively, but does a good job of adding punch to the score - and there really are no other opportunities for it than that.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

The Baking Of American Pie 2 (24:03)

Audio Commentary - J.B. Rogers (Director)

Audio Commentary - Adam Herz (Writer)

Audio Commentary - Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, Thomas Ian Nicholas (Actors)

Audio Commentary - Eddie Kaye Thomas (Actor)

Outtakes (5:29)

Deleted Scenes (10:47)

Music Video: Be Like That - 3 Doors Down (4:13)

Your Favourite Piece of Pie

• The Lesbian Scene (3:39)
• Stifler Gets Peed On (1:10)
• Jim's Dad Walks In On Him (0:32)
• Jim's Glue Scene (1:39)
• The Internet Scene (1:00)
• The Trumpet Scene (1:05)
• Jim Having Sex With The Pie (0:54) - this is the "standing up" pie sex scene - not the lying down version.
• Stifler Drinks The Tainted Beer (0:40)
• Finch Gets Diarrhoea (1:01)
• Jim With The Sock On (0:50)

Classic Quotes

Music Highlights

Theatrical Trailer (3:15)

Production Notes

Cast and Filmmakers

DVD-ROM Content

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Behind The Scenes footage
• American Pie screen tests
• Universal DVD newsletter and theme parks advertisements
• Bourne Identity trailer

• Commentary subtitles

    The video quality is superb, with only a very few minor blemishes keeping it from getting full marks.

    The audio quality is a little disappointing, being a very front-heavy soundtrack that is not without audio sync issues.

    There are an enormous quantity of extras present on this disc. While the quality and value of many are questionable, between them all there is certainly enough here for many hours of viewing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

American Pie: The Wedding (American Wedding) (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Introduction-Adam Herz (Writer / Producer) Deleted Scenes Outtakes Featurette-Stifler Speak Featurette-Enter The Dominatrix: Inside The Bachelor Party Audio Commentary-Jesse Dylan (Director) and Seann William Scott (Actor) Audio Commentary-Actors Featurette-Grooming The Groom Featurette-Cheesy Wedding Video Featurette-Nikki's Hollywood Journal
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	99:09
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (72:27)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jesse Dylan
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jason Biggs Seann William Scott Alyson Hannigan Eddie Kaye Thomas Thomas Ian Nicholas January Jones Eugene Levy Molly Cheek Deborah Rush Fred Willard Angela Paton Eric Allan Kramer Amanda Swisten
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Christophe Beck Andrew Dorfman Damon Gough

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This third instalment in the Pie series (interestingly enough entitled simply American Wedding in the US, rather than the longer American Pie: The Wedding used virtually everywhere else) is set three years down the track from the second film. This catches us up to "real time" as the second film, while released two years after the first was only set one year later. The story is ostensibly about the wedding of Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle, but as with any other Pie film, this is merely an excuse to run from one joke to the next, with the obvious hook of the bachelor party to fulfil the movie's nudity quota. There have been some new characters added to fill the holes left by the no-shows, most notable of these being Michelle's parents Mary (Deborah Rush) and Harold (Fred Willard), her sister Cadence (January Jones in what is possibly her most mature role yet), and the somewhat effeminate Bear (Eric Allan Kramer). Of these Bear is the only one to generate any real comic interest, as Michelle's parents are far too clichéd (that is - stuck up) to be particularly amusing, while the entire purpose for Cadence is to be the object of desire for both Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Stiffler (Seann William Scott).

    When the story is not covering Jim and Michelle's wedding, it is pausing to allow Stiffler to, well, be Stiffler. As much as the official focus of this film is the wedding, the real comedic drive is the amped up antics of Steve Stiffler. This is not the character remembered from the first two films - it is the essence of that character taken and distilled until it is many times as pure, then placed on steroids - essentially it is just a license for Seann William Scott to try anything and everything to get a laugh, and scarily enough it works most of the time. The film's major comedic highlights are all provided by Stiffler, from the gay-club dance off (pretty much the funniest thing in film this year) to the "chocolate truffle" sequence, Scott demonstrates a combination of physical comedy and pitch-perfect delivery that will leave you in stitches.

    By the time the film is winding to an end however, it is time for the wedding to progress, and unlike many other films of this nature, the very emotional wedding scenes are pulled off with the perfect blend of comedy and respect for the characters. This works for the most part because these are characters we have come to know over the passage of four years and three films. The very fact that this is the third time we visit them makes it all the more like it is catching up with old friends - you tell the funny stories, and then you enjoy each other's successes, which in this case is getting married. Even the least romantic person will be hard-pressed to keep a smile off their faces (and not from laughing) during the bridal waltz (which, interestingly enough, also acts as a callback to Pie 2 and the party dance).

    Tonally, this film is almost identical to the second instalment in the series. While the first movie was "get laid now", the second and third have had more mature themes, focusing on love and finding your place in the world. By marrying off the lead characters from the second film, the series grows up just like its audience has. The original mid-to-late teens that watched the first movie in late high-school or early uni have now moved on. They are now in their early-to-mid twenties, already with jobs, or at the very least contemplating their future. Like the characters in this film many are starting to think of what they are going to do with their lives - it is no longer about partying and getting laid, it is about finding someone special. This sort of film will always have a very close connection to its audience - just as some of the classic teen comedies from the '80s have left an indelible impression on those who experienced them at the right time in their lives, American Pie and its sequels will be remembered by a new generation as the films they grew up with.

    So - to the musings that completed my review of Pie 2 - should there be a sequel and if so which cast members will be involved? Well, as American Pie: The Wedding was not quite as spectacular in terms of box office as its predecessor, a sequel is not guaranteed. That isn't to say it wasn't successful - it still raked in over $US100 million in the US alone - but the diminishing returns will probably cause some to wonder. Personally, as with the second film, I really don't see where they could take a fourth Pie film (excluding the sequel made 20 years from now with the children of the characters all coming together). The romantic conflict between Jim and Michelle has effectively been ended by their wedding, and while making a Pie film without them would probably succeed it would lose its heart. On the other hand, dropping Kevin would be no loss, while all the new characters are just that - new - so would not necessarily be all that useful to another film. Having said that, if the money men decide there is enough room, no doubt a fourth movie will be made and we will get to see how life treats these characters. Maybe the next one will be the high-school reunion version?

    As a final note, the version of the film we have here is what is known as the "unrated" cut in the US (where films can actually be released without passing a censor first). This differs from the theatrical version of the film shown here (which was the same as the US theatrical version) by around 7 minutes. Most of this is at the bachelor party - this time we get more nudity, more dirty talk, and generally more gags (most of which fall flat, but there is one pearler worth the extra chaff). In addition, scenes have been added throughout the movie, reintroducing gags, and expanding character arcs. For the most part they are an improvement. The only downside (if you care about it anyway), is that the original theatrical version of this film is not available (at least here in Australia).

Video

    Presented at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced. Note that this is a change from the first two films that were both shot at 1.85:1 - possibly a further metaphor for the maturing of the characters and the story.

    Sharpness is quite good, displaying a pleasing amount of fine detail. Despite that, the image is still quite smooth, making for a very film-like effect. There is almost no grain present, with only a very occasional area of background making any visible at all. The real let-down however is shadow detail. It is extremely poor, with every scene taking place in anything but bright light being affected. Vast areas of screen disappear into impenetrable murkiness, giving the feeling that the film is being watched with dark glasses on. It removes almost all depth from the image, making it look very flat, and not at all pleasant to watch. For a brand new film this is a disgrace, and hopefully not one caused by the desire to get it to market quickly following the theatrical release. There is no low level noise present.

    Colours are also a major problem. It is quite possible these were affected by the very poor shadow detail, but it is as if in an attempt to overcome the shadow problem, colours were simply boosted. The results are that lighter colours are very often (especially in scenes with a good number of shadows) blown out, bringing what is almost certainly a very unintentional look to the film. Hopefully this transfer will be re-visited again in the future, because it would be a shame for this representation to be the one remembered through time.

    Compression artefacts are non-existent, and there is not one blemish on the print to be found. Aliasing is also kept to a minimum, with only a few obvious subjects causing problems, such as the grille of the bus at 8:58, the benches in the gym from 38:45 to 38:54, and Stiffler's shirt from 55:27 onwards. Fortunately, none of these are major, and cause little distraction. There is also a fair amount of edge enhancement, but in rather fluctuating doses - some scenes really dial it up, while in others it is non-existent. This will annoy those with large projection displays, and at times is even obvious on TVs.

    The subtitles are close to word-for-word accurate, and never miss a beat. They carry the humour as well as can be hoped (where intonation is important, they try gallantly, but usually fail), are well paced, and attractively rendered.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer change taking place at 72:27 during Chapter 18. It is reasonably well placed, although still obvious due to the audio drop-out.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three audio tracks present on this disc. The first is the original English dialogue, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 384Kbps), with the other two tracks being English audio commentaries in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (both at 192Kbps).

    Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. There are never any issues whether it be from Foley effects, score or other characters.

    Audio sync is unfortunately a different matter. There are a number of occasions where it seems to be ever-so-slightly out. Those sensitive to this sort of thing will find it a little off-putting, but it is close enough to normal that most will never notice it.

    The music provided for this movie comes in two flavours - the score provided by Christophe Beck, and a (very) large number of contemporary songs. There really isn't all that much work for the score here - it is simply filling the gaps between the "real" songs, more than the other way around. When it is present, it is cleverly composed so as to sound not too dissimilar to the songs it is bridging, never really drawing the audience's attention to it, but allowing them to enjoy the songs. The songs themselves are also considerably more effective here than in many other movies that use a similar amount of contemporary music. They drive the story as much as the score, and have been chosen to fit well with those used during the original American Pie, despite the major change in prevailing popular music tastes since that movie's release (over four years ago now!).

    While this is technically a surround soundtrack, it seems someone forgot to remind the sound engineers, as the surround channels sit dormant for virtually the entire length of the movie, only coming to life for a very brief bit of ambient surround sound with a bare few seconds to run in the film. A very disappointing effort.

    Thankfully the subwoofer receives a larger dose of care, although this track is by no means going to set any bass-usage records. The subwoofer fortifies most of the songs and some score, meaning it is active for a large portion of the movie, but in a way that never threatens to knock walls down.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Deleted Scenes (22:10)

Outtakes (6:07)

Featurette - Stiffler Speak (7:16)

Featurette - Enter The Dominatrix: Inside The Bachelor Party (9:48)

Audio Commentary - Jesse Dylan (Director) and Seann William Scott (Actor)

Audio Commentary - Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Thomas Ian Nicholas (Actors)

Featurette - Grooming The Groom (6:35)

Cheesy Wedding Video (3:00)

Featurette - Nikki's Hollywood Journal (9:55)

    The video quality is extremely disappointing. The shadow detail is terrible, and possibly in an effort to combat this problem the colour has been boosted on scenes with much in the way of shadow, which only leads to a very unnatural contrast between burnt out colours and murky dark patches.

    The audio is merely serviceable - this really sounds more like a stereo soundtrack than a surround soundtrack.

    The extras are still extensive - if not as many as for the previous entries in this series - but this time they are of a higher quality, and are worth the time to investigate (well, apart from the totally useless cast commentary).

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

American Pie Revealed (Bonus Disc)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Introduction-Begin The Journey, With Eugene Levy Featurette-The Recipe For Pie -Necessary Ingredients,The Guy Behind Pie Featurette-The Inspiration For East Great Falls, Casting The Gang, Featurette-Jim's Dad, Add Notecards And Stir Featurette-The First Piece -The Baking Of American Pie, Sex Comedy Pie1 Featurette-Bodily Functions in Pie 1, Learning Lacrosse, Featurette-Tour The Real "Pie House", Dancing For Nadia Featurette-The Aftertaste - The Test Screening, Fame!, Backlash Featurette-The Second Helping - Making Pie 2, The M.I.L.F. Featurette-Uneaten Pieces:The Lost Storylines, Bodily Functions In Pie2 Featurette-Sex Comedy In Pie 2 Featurette-One Last Piece - Making An American Wedding Featurette-The First Read-Through, Sex Comedy In Wedding Featurette-Bodily Functions in Wedding, Tour Of Jim's Room Featurette-A Visit To The Prop Truck, That's A Wrap Featurette-The Reunion Dinner Featurette-FAQ Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	195:43
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (135:40)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Eugene Levy Jason Biggs Sean William Scott Alyson Hannigan
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	None Given

    American Pie Revealed is the extras disc which accompanies the American Pie trilogy, contained within the American Pie - The Threesome Four Disc DVD Box Set.

    The American Pie trilogy contains the films American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001), and American Pie: The Wedding (2003). I, like this Extras DVD, am ignoring American Pie Presents Band Camp (2005), which I have not seen, and I understand was a direct to Video/DVD release.

    American Pie Revealed is divided into a number of different sections, but there is a "play all" option entitled "Eat the whole pie". The DVD's content contains a lot of interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, outtakes, uncut dailies, and letterboxed clips from the films. The DVD's content is as follows:

Introduction-Begin The Journey, With Eugene Levy

   Eugene Levy, who plays Jim's Dad, introduces the DVD and the menu structure.

Featurette-The Recipe For Pie -Necessary Ingredients

    Featuring Producer Chris Moore, this featurette features the cast and crew presenting the basic elements of the films, and its gross-out humour

The Guy Behind Pie

    The film's producers and directors discuss Adam Herz, who provided both the original story and scripts for the films. Herz mentions his inspirations, including his own school and college experiences, and films such as Porkys and Flying High (Airplane).

Featurette-The Inspiration For East Great Falls

    Here we meet the Assistant Principal of Herz's school, and some of Herz's school buddies, who all discuss their recollections of Herz. Some of these buddies inspired the characters in the trilogy.

Casting The Gang

   A look at the auditions for the cast, and a discussion of the main characters in the films.

Featurette-Jim's Dad

    A look at the character of Jim's dad (who never gets named in any of the films). I found this interesting, as Levy changed the dialogue and character of Herz's script, and created his own, which proved to be far more successful than what Herz had written. It seems that all the father son chats, which are some of the best parts of these films, are improvised by the two actors.

Add Notecards And Stir

    Herz walks us through his script writing process, which involves arranging, and then re-arranging the film's scenes, written on note cards and pinned to a board.

Featurette-The First Piece -The Baking Of American Pie

    A look back at a young cast and crew, working on a low-budget film that was to change all their lives.

Pie Sex

    A look at 'that' scene from the first film, featuring actor Jason Biggs and an apple pie.

The tube sock

    A look at Jim's masturbation scene from the first film, and what became known as the "cock prop".

The tongue tornado

    Featuring actress Tara Reid, this is a discussion of the cunnilingus scene from the first film.

The Bible

    The producers discuss where the idea for "the Bible", a book with a collection of sexual techniques, came from.

Nadia Vision

    A look at the small, but memorable, role played by the beautiful actress Shannon Elizabeth, who had her very large boyfriend (now husband) Joe Reitman (who makes a cameo appearance in the second film), on set to watch her.

"Say my name b****"

    A look at Jim's love scene, and how actors Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan improvised their dialogue. This classic line from the film seems to have just popped out of Hannigan's mouth in one take, and made it to the final cut.

The infamous pale ale

    Actor Sean William Scott, whose character Stiffler unintentionally drank semen in the first film, urine in the second film, and ate dog excrement in the third, explains how the pale ale is made. Apparently egg whites double for semen in the beer.

Shitbreak's s***break

    Actor Eddie Thomas who plays Finch discusses his character and the laxative scene.

Learning Lacrosse

   Actors Sean William Scott and Chris Klein recall how their characters played lacrosse, but neither of them knew how to play. They provide an anecdote of their steep learning curve.

Featurette-Tour The Real "Pie House"

    'Ben', the owner of the real house used in the films provides a tour of his Long Beach house, including the kitchen where the pie scene takes place. He provides a funny story of how when his family returned to the house, after filming, they discovered a pie in their fridge, but were unsure if they should eat it (they didn't).

Dancing For Nadia

    Outtakes from Jason Biggs' improvised dancing scenes.

Fame!

    The cast and crew reflect on their surprise as to the success of the first film. There are also some red carpet scenes following the film's original theatrical opening.

Backlash

    A look at some of the films' detractors, including film critic John Douglas and surprisingly, President Bill Clinton, who all publicly attacked the film. Apparently, privately, Clinton loved it. There is also some discussion about the fact that this is an R-Rated film, yet it was openly marketed to a teenage market.

Featurette-The Second Helping - Making Pie 2

    A new story with a new director, the gang was all moved out to the beach for some fun in the sun.

Lesbians

    A look at the famous scene from the second film. There are plenty of outtakes, especially of Jason Biggs and Sean William Scott kissing.

Band Camp

    A look at the fictitious Tall Oaks Band Camp, and how these films apparently sent real enrolments in band camps through the roof.

Pee Scene

    Outtakes of the Stiffler drinking urine scene. We also meet the film's Prop Masters who walk us through the pee props and the pee SFX.

Bonding with Jim

    A look at Jim's super glue masturbation scene. We also see behind the scenes Jason Biggs' bruising physical comedy.

Back Story

    I found it very interesting that following test screenings the second film was extensively re-shot with some of the film's main characters either removed, or given entirely different scenes and dialogue, just weeks before the film was due to be completed. Despite this, the second film actually works well.

Back to East Great Falls High

    Some nostalgic outtakes, inspired by the film American Graffiti.

Stiffler's Dad Moves In

    A sub-plot that was removed from the second film. Actor Chris Penn played Stiffler's dad, who was a sort of 'Super Stiffler'. Indeed, he referred to himself as "the big stiff". Following screenings to test audiences, the film was completely re-written without this character.

Stiffler has a baby

    This is a joke - there is no content here.

Finch's great orgasm

    Another scene removed from the second film, where Stiffler's dad unwittingly provides a tantric Finch with his great orgasm.

The Fight

    In another scene removed from the second film, Finch faces Stiffler's dad in a fight at the beach house to remove him from their beach party.

Stiffler's dad meets Jim's dad

    In another scene removed from the second film, the two characters meet accidentally in a book store, where they discuss fatherhood. As always, Eugene Levy (who plays Jim's dad) steals the show.

Bringing the pieces together

    Due to the odd way in which American Pie 2 was made, there was no linear script, but a collection of comic set pieces. Here, the filmmakers reflect on how they created a successful film without a coherent storyline.

The M.I.L.F.

    A look at Stiffler's mum, and how this term was made popular by this film. Herz admits he didn't invent it, but heard his brother use it once.

Making An American Wedding

    Despite the haphazard way in which American Pie 2 was made, it was even more popular than the first film. This in turn lead to another sequel, American Wedding (released as American Pie: The Wedding in Australia). Two comic set pieces were to dominate this third film, the bachelor party, and the wedding itself.

Featurette-The First Read-Through

    Sean William Scott explains what the First Read Through is, and there is footage of this taking place. Some of this behind the scenes footage is then compared to the final scenes in the film.

American Dogs

    The director of American Wedding, Jesse Dylan, hosts a behind the scenes look at the casting and training of the "humping dogs" in American Wedding.

The chocolate truffle

    Sean William Scott reflects on how his character, Stiffler, unintentionally drank semen in the first film, urine in the second film, and ate dog excrement in the third. There is a behind the scenes look at the chocolate truffle scene being filmed, and we get to see how the prop makers create fake dog poo.

Tour Of Jim's Room

    Jason Biggs provides us with a tour of the set that is his bedroom in the trilogy. He also points out a few in-jokes, such as a copy of the DVD How High which sits on his table. The film was directed by one of the trilogy's directors.

Featurette-A Visit To The Prop Truck

    Prop Masters Dave and Scott happily show off their fake erections, fake poo, and collection of dildos.

That's A Wrap

    A behind the scenes look at the last scenes of American Wedding being filmed. Herz reflects on it being the end of an era.

Featurette-The Reunion Dinner

    Key cast and crew from the trilogy meet in the same restaurant where they met for the first time, five years ago, for a nostalgic dinner and chat, filled with plenty of back slaps and anecdotes.

Featurette-FAQ

    Herz answers the most frequently asked questions over the last five years. For example, did he make up the term M.I.L.F?; and is Finch's nickname S***break or S***brick? (as incorrectly appears in the subtitles); and why aren't all the characters in American Wedding?

Video

    Obviously a variety of source material has been used in these featurettes, ranging from uncut dailies and behind the scenes home video to recent interviews shot on DV tape. However, overall, the transfer quality is acceptable.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with the clips from the films presented letterboxed. Some material is presented pan and scan.

    The sharpness, black level, shadow detail, and colour of the recent footage, such as the interviews, are mostly fine, as these segments are usually well-lit and shot. But some of the interviews are under-lit, such as at 139:15. As expected, some of the DVD's contents are limited by the condition of the source material, and some of the behind the scenes and video footage lacks detail, such as the night footage at 104:15.

    I did occasionally notice some problems with MPEG artefacts, and sometimes the backgrounds in particular were a little pixelated. Some of the content is also very grainy.

    Film-to-video artefacts appear in the form of aliasing, such as the slight shimmer on the pick-up truck at 82:57, or the shimmer on Jim's dad's striped shirt  at 127:30.

    As expected, there are various film artefacts appearing in a lot of the footage, due to its origin.

    Only English subtitles are present, and they are accurate.

    This is a dual-layered disc, with the layer change placed at 135:40. The content is divided into 55 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track offered: English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). Considering that the content of almost all the featurettes is 'talking heads', this is acceptable.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine throughout.

    While there is some incidental use of music, understandably there is no score per se for this DVD. Interestingly, despite the many featurettes included, none relate to the trilogy's score or many songs used throughout the trilogy.

    Obviously, as Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, there is no surround presence or LFE activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    With this DVD, the 'extras' are the content.

Menu

    There is a Main Menu Introduction, and a series of animated sub-menus, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

    As far as I can tell, the American Pie - The Threesome box set was released in the US as a "Limited Edition" in 2004, but is no longer available in R1. In the US they currently have a three-disc box set containing just the three movies, without the extras disc.

    However, American Pie - The Threesome has been released in R2, and our versions, including this disc, seem to be the same.

    This disc is a collection of extras for the trilogy, and aimed squarely at fans of the movies.

    The video quality depends on the source material, but is usually acceptable.

    The audio quality is limited, but also acceptable.

    The collection of extras are genuine.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall