American Pie Presents The Naked Mile

Rating: out of
Released: 2006
Directed by: Joe Nussbaum
Cast: Eugene Levy, John White, Christopher MacDonald, Candace Kroslak, Jessy Schram

Over the years, I’ve seen all of the AMERICAN PIE movies. That is despite the fact that I haven’t liked any of them. The first was okay, I liked the characters, but I didn’t laugh all that much. And it was supposed to be a comedy. The films have declined in quality since that, with the 4th, BAND CAMP, being a pretty terrible direct to video film.

Now here comes AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS THE NAKED MILE. If you have a TV, you are probably aware of its release. Since it is a Universal release, NBC/UNIVERSAL has been airing promos of it ever hour for the past three weeks. Getting to be ridiculous. I guess the advertising work since I Netflixed it.

This one is about Eric Stifler, the younger brother of Stifler from the others, the loud obnoxious guy, I think. Like I said, I barely remember them. Only this Stifler isn’t like the others in his family. He is a virgin.

While the first film had the infamous pie scene, this film opens with its moment of shock comedy. Eric stays home one morning while his family goes out to brunch. After they leave, he gets a certain video, that he found in the dumpster behind his local video store, that he keeps hidden in his room. He goes into the living room to watch that video. Since the neighbor is mowing his lawn, he can’t hear the, uhh, actress, on the tape, so he gets out his headphones.

I think you can guess what happens next right? The parents come home, forgetting something, bringing his grandmother in with them. He doesn’t hear them until it is too late.

NOTE: AS I TYPE THIS THE AD IS AIRING ON NBC

Here, the scene gets a bit too explicit for its own good. While the first film was kind of good hearted, harmless fun, this gets pretty nasty. It involves bodily fluids, shown landing on the grandmother, and her having a heart attack and dying.

All this is before the credits. And this is a comedy?

And NBC is constantly advertising it? I mean, this scene alone earned it the unrated banner. I saw the ad again this afternoon in the middle of the day. They wouldn’t show NC-17 rated film trailers during the day, why would they show this?

Okay, enough Ned Flanders moral lectures, back to the film.

The grandmother is forgotten about, Eric gets grounded, but then he has to deal with the fact that his girlfriend won’t sleep with him. He is going away for the weekend, to visit his cousin at college. Knowing how frustrated he is by the situation, she gives him a “guilt free pass”, he can sleep with anyone over the weekend, to get it out of his system.

At the college, Eric has to deal with a fraternity of midgets, and the Naked Mile, where all the students run naked to blow off steam before finals. Will he meet someone? Will he cheat on his girlfriend? Will he become a Stifler?

I was rather surprised that of all the people to return from the previous AMERICAN PIE films, Eugene Levy appears in a few scenes. I mean, he is now working with Christopher Guest, co-writing and starring in all of his films. Of all the cast members of the original, he has had the best career, and probably has the least reason to appear (what was Tara Reid doing?). Still playing the same character, Levy gives out advice to all the characters. I hope he is being paid well.

I will say that the film has quite a bit of nudity. More than any of the previous films. I guess that is one of the reasons a lot of people would rent it. And if they do, they probably won’t be disappointed.

But, the pace is way off. There is a rather endless football game, against the midgets, that I thought would never end. Other scenes go on much too long.

The film has a few laughs early on (after the grandmother scene), so I would think it might amount to something. But, it really doesn’t. But then again, neither did any of the other sequels. So, maybe I can say it is one of the better films in the series. Not saying much though.

Still, does NBC know what they are advertising here?

Reviewed by: Jim Magovern

Dec 30,2006