“American Reunion”
Rated R
Grade: C

By MICHAEL WALTERS
Cantankerous Critic

“American Reunion” offers another helping of American Pie, but this one is way past its expiration date. This pointless exercise in 90’s nostalgia brings the whole cast back for their 13-year high school reunion. They’re older but none the wiser, and their jokes haven’t matured much more than they have.

While Jim (Jason Biggs) has left his pastry humping behind, he and his private parts are still being subjected to various indignities. Now he’s a father having trouble finding time to do the horizontal mambo with wife Alyson Hannigan. Klein is a successful sportscaster who can’t quite live up to the expectations of his social climbing girlfriend. And Jim’s dad (Eugene Levy) is still dispatching hilariously frank and misguided advice in the bedroom.

It doesn’t have many laughs to call its own. What laughs it does have come from referencing the ghostly laughs of past installments. And most of those come courtesy of Sean William Scott’s Stiffler, a party animal seemingly unaware of his how sad and out of step his attempts to party have become.

And as much as the characters try to relive old times, it only highlights how much things have changed. It’s a bit like going to see Sugar Ray or Smash Mouth in concert at a state fair. They’re doing the same jokes, and hitting all the greatest hits the series fans have come to expect. It’s pleasant enough but also kind of pathetic.

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