Synopsis
The Stiffler character from the Amercian Pie movies has, it turns out, a younger brother, who is also a loathsome creep. After sabotaging the high school band’s performance, his punishment is to attend band camp himself. He makes the best of a bad deal, planning to videotape raunchy goings on.
What can you say about a movie where ex-porn star Ginger Lynn Allen is the most convincingly human character present? Eugene Levy returns from the other movies to collect a paycheck as…the camp morale officer. He phones in the performance, but he does, at least, turn up. The same cannot be said for anything resembling humour. The film is, in a word, dire. As each interminable second ticks by, your relatives will remove sharp objects from your reach out of concern that you might plunge them into your eyes. Given a choice between watching this movie and being curb-stomped, think seriously about the latter.
Audio
Nothing wrong as such with the audio. The dialogue (or what passes for same) is (perhaps unfortunately) perfectly clear and free of distortion. The music benefits from a nice mix, and the 5.1 track moves background radios and other diegetic music elements to the rear speakers, as appropriate. The surround effects aren’t bad (decent forest sounds, for instance), and there are some nice instances of placement. The overall effect, however, is rather underwhelming. The track is competent, but not very lively.
Video
The picture quality is a teensy bit more exciting. The image is very sharp, and the colours are vibrant, with fine contrasts. The aspect ratio is 1.78:1 (this is direct-to-video, remember). The primary flaw is that some scenes are plagued by pixelation and grain. Nothing too severe, but noticeable all the same. Otherwise, things are competent enough, and if the picture is rather boring to look at, blame the cinematographer and the director.
Special Features
There are over 70 minutes of extras, but they aren’t too exciting, either. Mostly, they consist of deleted scenes, outtakes and uncut sequences (like we needed more of this film to watch). There’s a music video featuring the Band Camp Girls in bathing suits, and there’s a promotional featurette and some stills. All in all, pretty boring. There was no menu in the review package sent, so the rating should be taken as a default.
Closing Thoughts
American Pie revived the teen comedy film. This dismal entry in the franchise might well kill the form once again.
Special Features List
- Making-of Featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Uncut Scenes
- Band Camp Girls Music Video
- Outtakes
