Noah Griffith (Jonah Hill) is a college dropout, who doesn’t do sh*t and lives with his mother. She wants to go on a date, but a problem occurs; her double date partners don’t have a baby sitter. A problem that can be solved with the reluctant Noah. Arriving at the scene, he’s confronted with the timid, but handsome Slater (Max Records), the wannabe it-girl Blithe (Landry Bender) and Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), an adoptee with a fell streak. The kids haven’t even started to ruin Noah’s evening, when he gets a call from his “girlfriend”, who’s at a party and needs some coke. Baited with the chance for intercourse, he loads the kids into the family minivan to meet up with Karl (Sam Rockwell), an artistic individual in the narcotics industry.

Mediocre at best. Not a complete waste of time, but still hardly worth it. Let’s have a look at some details, though. My first thought of the movie was: Jonah Hill is getting too old for these roles. Not that those deadbeat character comedies rely on credibility or have an age limit, but still, it’s getting hard to believe. The kids are okay, well they’re kids. And each of them has a small little problem, which gets solved during the course of the movie, to give them reason to be there, aside being part of the main story. But that’s it, every time a small conversation and it’s over. Most of the characters are semi-entertaining, with Sam Rockwell being the one that sticks out the most, even more than Jonah Hill, which is bad for a leading character. Which brings us to the main question of a comedy review: Is it entertaining? Yes, somewhat. You don’t find yourself laughing all the time, but it does mostly have a slightly funny feeling. Then again, it’s lacking originality and you might just smirk, because you knew what was coming.

Deutscher Titel: Bad Sitter
Links: IMDB: The Sitter, IMDB: This Review

Over a decade has passed, since the kids from East Great Falls graduated from high school. The old gang rarely got to see each other and their lives went on. Some are married, some are living their dream and everyone has their own problems. Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) have a son now, who makes them happy, but on the downside, the bed is only used for sleeping. Oz (Chris Klein) is quite famous for being the host of a sports show and participating in a dance contest, Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) a loving husband, Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is a globetrotter and of course, there’s Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) who hasn’t changed a bit. Everyone is glad to be back together and they try to catch up, while also reliving their high school days.

They’re back. And yes, they really did get most of the cast back, even the side characters. Unfortunately they didn’t really learn to act in all those years, but then again, no one is watching American Pie for the high-quality acting. The characters have developed, but haven’t really matured. Some gags are good, some are not that good or a bit stupid, while others are tasteless. For example, I really didn’t need to see Jason Biggs’ dong, the joke would’ve even worked without it. And that’s one of the things I never liked about the American Pie franchise. They have some quite good and funny parts, but blow it with grossy grade-school and/or fecal humour. But I have to admit, the movie isn’t that bad. Well, at least it’s way better than everything else that came after the first movie (which isn’t that hard, because everyone was worse than the predecessor). And here’s the controversy about the tightrope walk they had to do with this movie. They want to get back all the old fans of the movies, which should’ve grown out of this kind of movies, while also pleasing the new generation of movie goers, who want that kind of humour. So we have all the “old” characters/actors, who are familiar to the old fan base, while targeting the humour of today’s teenagers. And I have to admit, they do this actually quite well. So yeah, if you’re an old fan, you can get a bit nostalgic and won’t be disappointed by American Reunion. And if you’re young and new to the franchise, you can have a good time as well. But if haven’t seen an American Pie movie before, you should at least watch the first movie, to get to know the characters, since they don’t get much of an introduction. And if you don’t like American Pie, this movie won’t make you love it, since it’s basically the same old stuff.

Deutscher Titel: American Pie – Das Klassentreffen
Link: IMDB: American Reunion, IMDB: This Review

Radost (Lola Dockhorn) ist 13 und damit die starke Frau in der Familie. Ihr Mutter starb vor Jahren und ihr geistig zurückgebliebener Vater Bruno (Christian Ulmen) wird vom Jugendamt, gewissermaßen als Experiment, als Erziehungsberechtigter geduldet, auch wenn Radost sich eher um Bruno kümmert. Nach außen hin verschweigt sie den Zustand ihres Vaters. Dies ging bisher alles gut, doch mit der Pubertät kommen für Radost ganz andere Probleme hinzu und so langsam möchte auch sie erwachsen werden. Hinzu kommt noch der neue Mitschüler, der das Interesse des Teenagers weckt.

Warum nur eine (Fast)Filmkritik? Nun, weil ich nach einer halben Stunde gegangen bin. Das lag sicher nicht an Christian Ulmen, der seine Rolle ganz gut gespielt hat, auch wenn es schon leicht groteske Züge hatte. Aber insgesamt war der Film einfach langweilig. Ich habe nach dieser halben Stunde immer noch nicht ganz den Sinn des Films gesehen, bzw. keinen erfrischenden, der mich reizt zu bleiben. Habe ja nichtmal wirklich gelacht bei dieser tragischen Komödie (dafür andere im Kino, muss also an mir liegen). Es wurde eben ein Klischee nach dem anderen aufgegriffen, die Resultate diverser Aktionen waren absolut vorhersehbar und ich war nicht wirklich optimistisch, dass sich dies ändern würde. Spekulieren wir mal ein bisschen in die Runde. Was könnte denn noch unvorhergesehenes passieren? Eine Romanze von Radost und dem neuen Mitschüler? Dass das Geheimnis um Brunos verminderte Intelligenz an die Schulöffentlichkeit kommt? Mobbing, Gefährdung der jungen Liebe, Probleme mit den Eltern des Knaben, Entfremdung von Vater und Tochter, Probleme mit dem Jugendamt und schlussendlich ein Happy End aus dem alle Seiten gestärkt hervorgehen?

Link: IMDB