Cult comedy - 25 years of "American Pie": Can you still watch it today?
The Apple Pie. The flute "this one time" at the summer camp. And of course: "Stifler's Mom". Anyone who must admit to themselves that images are popping up in their consciousness that they had long forgotten, was probably around 25 years old - or at least not quite as old as they are today. In 1999, in July, a quarter of a century ago, the teenage comedy "American Pie" hit US cinemas and became an phenomenon. One of those films that everyone had seen on the schoolyard.
It's worth remembering because successful films that target an audience that is in the process of growing up can have a certain influence on that very process. And because one wonders today: How could I have found that so funny? And how much of "American Pie" is still in me? The die-hard fan adds at this point: "Hihi - it's in there!"
Because "American Pie" was about sex. The then relatively unknown Paul and Chris Weitz - director and producer - showed four boys at high school who desperately wanted to sleep with women and suffered a great deal because it hadn't happened yet. "We'll all still be virgins by graduation, isn't that clear?", Jim (Jason Biggs) warns his friends alarmingly. The guys' gang therefore makes a pact: It must happen by the graduation ball.
"American Pie" was an event
The plot doesn't even sound all that revolutionary and was accordingly criticized ("cheaply produced teenage comedy with crude fecal and masturbation humor") - but the film was different from much of what was known. "American Pie" stands out of the swamp of numerous teenage discover-their-penis-films that it itself provoked with its success. "American Pie" was an event.
"I had traveled to America at the time and asked a friend what I absolutely had to watch", recalls Joachim Friedmann, Professor for Serial Storytelling at the International Film School Cologne ifs - and eyewitness. "And he said: 'American Pie', it was the sensation."
From a craftsmanship perspective, the film is still very good today, he says. "In my opinion, it was one of the first teenage comedies to take a multiperspective approach", so Friedmann. Each member of the friend group had their own storyline and their own problems. "That's very dominant. As dominant as we know it from series today." And in the sex education class with the bio-teacher, too.
The unfortunate apple pie
In the boys' attempts to lose their virginity, there was also extreme embarrassment piled on extreme embarrassment. The film conveyed strange messages at times, such as the idea that a premature ejaculation is the worst thing that can happen in life. At other times, it made the micro-wounds of puberty tangible. It always hits Jim particularly hard in the film, who is surprised by his father while he sexually misuses the title-giving apple pie.
The answers and stereotypes presented by the film to its presumably sexually confused teenage audience still seem surprisingly strange after 25 years and several smart debates. The exchange student secretly and unwantedly films while changing? Most immediately consider this a brilliant idea ("All you need is a micro-camera. You hook it up to the internet and tell me the address!"). The covert film's mascot? Stifler, who rarely asks but often acts instead. Toxic masculinity and what it meant was not yet a topic of great contemplation then. The female characters are rather one-dimensionally drawn - either as mystical saints or as rigid phantoms.
The Revenge of Film History
"The heteronormative, male, white worldview embedded in it – we wouldn't make that today," says Film Professor Friedmann. He also says, "The male characters in the film are all punished for what they do sexually and emotionally wrong." Even Stifler, who runs into that guy, the one he had bullied before, surprisingly enough, with his own mother.
From the actresses and actors, the women made particularly successful careers - for example, Alyson Hannigan ("How I Met Your Mother") and Jennifer Coolidge ("The White Lotus"). The men – hmm. Perhaps it was the film's history seeking revenge for a rather shallow deal.
- The quote, "This one time at the summer camp," is a reference from the comedy movie "American Pie," where the character Oz plays his flute.
- The movie "American Pie" became a phenomenon in the USA in 1999, showcased in American cinemas during July.
- Jason Biggs, a relatively unknown actor at the time, gained fame through his role in "American Pie."
- The film's plot revolves around the comedic struggles of four high school boys in their pursuit of losing their virginity before graduation.
- The movie had significant cultural impact, influencing its teenage audience and shaping comedy trends in the USA.
- Joachim Friedmann, a German Film Professor, recalls watching "American Pie" during his visit to the USA and emphasizes its status as a cinematic event.
