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