DVD Review: AMERICAN PIE: THE BOOK OF LOVE

Why I kept watching the AMERICAN PIE series after the third film was beyond me. They all involved a member of the Stiffler family, and were all terrible. But for the first time since AMERICAN WEDDING, the series takes an upturn with a smaller, funnier film that only has a few truly dumb hiccups along the way.

THE BOOK OF LOVE is the first film since the original that doesn’t follow a member of the Stiffler family, and for that it deserves some credit. The Stiflers are obnoxious characters and every single one of them is just doing a bad impression of Seann William Scott’s performance of the original. It’s like they exist in some weird universe where every member of the family acts the exact same way, which is something I don’t think anyone can really relate to. The focus this time is on Rob (Bug Hall) and his buddies Lube (Youtube celebrity Brandon Hardesty) and Nathan (Kevin M. Horton).

The three guys are back in the same place our main characters were in the first film. This is a simple story about three guys trying to get laid. Bug Hall really does a great job of playing a regular guy who isn’t a jerk, but can make mistakes and he’s honestly funny. His intro actually got a chuckle out of me, and I let down my guard and legitimately enjoyed the film. Rob’s goal during the film is to get with his good friend Heidi (rookie actress Beth Behrs). When Rob finds out she’s a virgin he sort of makes a strange pact with her that they’ll have sex and be each other’s firsts. At a school’s luau themed dance they plan to meet in the library to have the big moment, but when he shows up she’s already there with another guy… the shock of the moment causes rob to fumble with a torch he stole from the party and that causes a fire in the library, which in turn causes the sprinkler system to go off, which in turn ruins may books.

Of course Rob and Heidi are forced to clean up the mess after they’re caught, Heidi shirtless, and Rob obviously the cause of the trouble. While Rob is cleaning up everything he discovers… The Bible. No not the Genesis to Revelations book, but rather the book we know from the earlier films! That’s right, this AMERICAN PIE actually has a plot device that ties into the other films, rather than being a cheap cash in on the AMERICAN PIE name! It’s almost like they hired a writer who knew what he was doing… oh that’s right they DID!

This is the first film of the straight to DVD AMERICAN PIE films to be written by a person who wrote any of the original trilogy. This time around it’s David H. Steinberg who wrote the story for AMERICAN PIE 2, which while not as good as the first, was definitely better than AMERICAN WEDDING, and leagues above the rest. His touch brings the spirit of the film back to where the first two films were.

The plot Steinberg comes up with involves Rob and his friend’s trying to figure out how to get laid by deciphering the ruined pages of The Bible, but soon find that without everything in the book in perfect condition, much of the advice is terrible on it’s own and they set out to repair it, starting with the first guy who wrote in it, Noah Levenstein played once again by Eugene Levy.

The supporting cast is pretty good too, Brandon Hardesty’s first performance in a film is a little too Jonah Hill-esque but it’s still very funny at times. His character is often trying to trick women into sleeping with him and he’s always fantasizing about any hot girl just standing by him. These fantasies are often hot and extremely funny. As for Kevin Horton, he’s more of the stable reliable friend.

Sadly the worst part of this movie is anything involving Stifler, played by John Patrick Gordon, who’s constantly doing a bad impression of the Seann William Scott original once again. I legitimately hated him, which is supposed to be the point, but I’d prefer if he was cut from the film entirely. There have been so many different people playing a Stifler family member that they all blend together now

But when it comes to AMERICAN PIE there’s always been one thing that the films are about and a reason many young men set out to see them and that’s the sex, the nudity and the gross out humor and it’s all here. Many of the women are INSANELY beautiful, and sure high school students with breast implants are a rarity in the real world, but this is the world of AMERICAN PIE! It’s about as far from real as STAR WARS. School trips with strip poker and no teachers don’t happen in real life, but you can dream right?

THE BOOK OF LOVE isn’t a perfect movie, and by no means should you run out and buy it, but if you rent it, catch it on cable, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. For the first time it actually feels like the AMERICAN PIE torch has been passed on to a future generation of characters that are actually likable. There are some some what familiar faces and relatives of characters like the incredibly beautiful Nadia from the original’s cousin, who is equally as beautiful and has a terrible accent just like Shannon Elizabeth (what happened to her?!) I give AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS: THE BOOK OF LOVE a very remarkable 3 out of 5 stars. Against all odds director John Putch (SCRUBS) and the AMERICAN PIE series made a decent comedy.