Reviewedby Ben
Most ofus remember back when there was this little independent summer comedy withrelative unknowns and somewhat of an original comedic backbone. It introduced a “shock-value” style thatwould be emulated, or more accurately put, copied ever since. Each film to follow would try and up the antywith how gross and “shocking” the comedy could get. Yes, it all started with a young man (JasonBiggs) having sex with a pie, this image was so silly that you couldn’t helpbut laugh and Eugene Levy’s awkward dad advice was priceless. This of course was the original “AmericanPie.” Which then went on to spawn two entertaining but ultimately unnecessarysequels and then two spin-offs that went under the radar (or straight to DVD)“Band Camp” and more recently “The Naked Mile.” So I satdown to watch “American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile,” hoping to at leastchuckle once or maybe twice, well I was in for a surprise. Remember how I said the first movie had“shock-value” but was still funny, well here’s one of the “shocking” momentsfrom “The Naked Mile.” The movie begins with Eric Stifler (the originalStifler’s cousin) waiting for his parents to leave so he can do his businesswhile watching an adult film in the living room. Well, of course mom forgetsher purse and they turn the car around and of course grandma has to pee so shecomes back in with them, and wait for it… of course they catch him in the act,the end of it I should add. And, here’sthe “shock-value” part, the end of the act sprays all over the family,including his grandma, and the “shock” of this kills her.
Throughoutthe film it should be noted that her death is mentioned in such tasteful waysas, “Dude you killed your grandma with your money shot.” I’m not easily offended and I love gross outcomedy just as much as the next guy, but only when it’s funny. So to the readers out there if this soundslike something you’ll laugh at, then expect that to be the jumping offpoint. Let’s run through some more“shock” real quick: someone craps in a dryer, that same character pees out thewindow of a car into his friend’s mouth who’s sleeping in the back seat, a 7minute scene of phallic carnival games when two of the characters take Viagra,the typical girl who’s into “kinky sex,” and finally ends with a happy endingwhere everyone gets what they want, except the viewer. Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve been telling you all thisand you don’t even know the plot yet, my bad. So Eric doesn’t want to be the only Stifler to graduate a virgin and ofcourse his girlfriend Tracy wants to wait, but she decides to give him aguilt-free pass to the Naked Mile to let him get it out of his system, becausethat makes sense, right? He goes thereand meets up with his cousin and the “hilarity” ensues. This isyet another movie in a laundry list of gratuitous gross out flicks with lots ofnaked girls that really would only appeal to teenage boys who don’t haveinternet access. The only cast memberthat gave me hope was Eugene Levy (who I love in all the Christopher Guestfilms), but even he seemed to just be going through the motions for a quickpaycheck with nothing new or funny to bring to the table. So if this sounds like your type of humor gofor it, if you prefer less penis Olympiads and poop jokes you may want to lookelsewhere. The Features:
The Yoga Guide to Getting Girls: This is a short “film” whereTracy (the sweet girlfriend in the movie) teaches us guys how to pick up womenin Yoga class. Yes of course there areerection jokes, did you expect any less?The Bare Essentials: Wow, this is a feature that I’mnot sure anyone wanted to see. Rememberthat scene in “The 40-year old Virgin” where they wax Steve Carell’s chest,well in this feature they wax all the male characters back sides to prepare forthe Naked Mile scene. More filler tomake the DVD seem cooler than it really is and add to the UNRATED label.Deleted and Extended Scenes: This feature is pretty standard,but with the plethora of ridiculously drawn out scenes in the actual movie, dowe really need to watch extended versions of any of this?Outtakes: The usual goofy stuttering andgibberish, with several curse words thrown in all around.Little People, Big Stunts: Is a behind the scenesfeaturette with the little people fraternity actors talking about how fun itwas to shoot the movie. Oh I didn’tmention the little people frat rivalry with the Stiflers? There’s a 15-minute football scene betweenthe two that goes nowhere and serves no purpose.Life on the Naked Mile: A featurette on the making ofthe movie that sums up the film better than I can. One of the actors, Daniel Petronijevic (Bullthe Frat guy), says: “It’s a continuous, long, rude joke from the moment we geton set to the moment we’re done.” Here’s my question: If I didn’t have funwatching the movie, why do I want to watch a feature of how fun it was to make?Commentary Track with director andcast: Lots of laughingat their own jokes.Final ThoughtsJustbecause one movie does really well and then the sequels do really well doesn’tmean that audiences want the joke to be pummeled into the ground byonly-to-video releases. There issomething to be said about comedic timing and pacing to even the most basicform of cinematic genres, neither of which this grasps at all. But it doesn’tmean studios will stop making fodder like this. After all, where there’s a dollar, there’s a way.
