The teen sex comedy’s evolved significantly over the past few decades thanks fo films like Booksmart and Blockers, and that can make it pretty difficult to stomach some of the things that passed for “jokes” in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early ‘00s. Objectification of women, blatant homophobia, and outright sexual assault were often played for laughs, including in American Pie, the hit 1999 comedy that spawned a whole slew of unwanted sequels and spinoffs. In their latest video, the YouTube’s Cult Popture takes a look back at the teen sex comedy genre and asks how in the hell it’s possible that a new American Pie sequel is scheduled to be released in the year 2020.
American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (apostrophe placement up for debate) is, of course, not an entry in the main American Pie series, but is rather part of the straight-to-DVD “Presents” franchise. Still, given that the last entry in this series was released over a decade ago and massive cultural shifts such as the #MeToo movement have occurred in those intervening years, it seems insane that anyone would attempt to produce a lewd teen sex comedy in a franchise that has always appealed to the basest desires of teen boys.
Then again, maybe this is American Pie’s chance to turn over a new leaf. Maybe Girls’ Rules will be the female-centric entry in this dessert-humping franchise we’ve all been waiting for. Maybe it will be like Booksmart but, you know, dumb. To find out for sure, we’ll just have to wait until the film is released and magically appears on discounted DVD racks in truck stop convenience stores across the country.
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67 Comments
Keep fucking that pie.
Hey, Eugene Levy’s gotta do something now that Schitt’s Creek is ending.
Funny enough, this is the first AP movie he’s not in.
No American Pie? Who’s up Schitt’s Creek now?Huh. That has crossover potential.
Shauna, get Barry on the phone.I DON’T CARE WHAT FUCKING BARRY!
maybe this is American Pie’s chance to turn over a new leaf. Maybe Girls’ Rules will be the female-centric entry
Maybe? There’s zero chance that’s not what this will be.
Looking at the cast list, it is indeed female-centric. The first four listed cast members are all women, including this movie’s Stifler.
Seth Rogen basically did that with the Neighbors sequel. “Girls like to drink and smoke be gross too”
massive cultural shifts such as the #MeToo movement have occurred in those intervening years, it seems insane that anyone would attempt to produce a lewd teen sex comedy in a franchise that has always appealed to the basest desires of teen boysI don’t think the future of the #MeToo movement is all that bright if people start using it as a catch-all for things they’ve decided are “problematic for some reason.”Also, I’m not loving this trend of 20/30-something men coming off like New England schoolmarms to try to appear woke. “They want to make a LEWD sex comedy? No one needs such filth!”
No matter how liberal America gets it will always bend towards puritanism whenever possible.
But it will always have its healthy smattering of stupid young people who watch terrible entertainment. The continued appeal of these dogshit movies doesn’t surprise me in the least.Everybody woke af until they get a chance to see some titties on late-night cable.
Hey, I think I saw a nipple in there.
Good times.
Jeez, some of us are at work!Oh, wait.
You had color? You’re lucky, when I was a lad….
Way way back in the day the channels you didn’t get just had a light snow over them, so you could see everything basically clearly.I remember the day that the color smudge scrambling came to town. It was a sad day.
Back then, I could fap to anything.Now, I need complete silence, the correct aspect ration, and a perfectly-choreographed denouement.
im betting the cutoff age for understanding that reference is about 30? Its good, but oh so specific.
The religious right and the woke left are very much opposed to the naked female form. Remember when John Ashcroft covered up the immodest lady justice statute? Motherfucker was woke before that was even a thing.
You’re not one of those Young Republicans weirdos, are you?
I’m way weirder than the young Republicans.
And the liberals drive the New Puritanism while the right drives the old Puritanism.
I mean, it’s blurry from all sides. I’ve heard people use the verb “Metoo’d” to describe someone being reprimanded for HR-unfriendly behavior.But overall, I wouldn’t take this article too seriously; as with most present-day AVClub content, it’s employing overly verbose snark and faux-woke attitudes to stir the comments pot and drive clicks, a tactic both of us just fell for.
Unwanted sequels? Yeah, the majority of them maybe. But American Pie 2 was pretty good. I haven’t watched it in a while, probably not since 2012 when Reunion came out, but while I find the main four a little less likeable in the first film the further away in age I get from them (as much as I enjoy the film itself in its 1999 way), the theme of them moving away from high school culture and dealing with the change works a bit better. I dunno, maybe it’s just that I was a similar age when it came out and there’s probably a whole heap of nostalgia in there (especially the soundtrack) but it held up pretty well. American Wedding, however, is dogshit.
Completely agree. It wasn’t high art, but American Pie 2 is definitely the best of the series and is actually a kind of sweet movie about growing up.
Funny you mention dogshit. Sean William Scott eating turds is the only bit of it I remember
They were all about making people eat gross things back then. I’m forever traumatized from the scene in Van Wilder with the donuts filled with bulldog semen.
Funny Farm had a joke about eating bull testicles in 88.Gross out humor was a thing long before Van Wilder.I hate to say it, but we probably have Joe Rogan and Fear Factor (not to be confused with Fear Factory) for pushing us past that form of entertainment.Now women piss and shit on the streets. And the world is better for it.
That may have been the very moment when I realised how dumb the film was. Guess I found my benchmark between gross-out and comedy.
Well, I guess the key scene is going to experience renewed popularity in quarantine.
Yeah I kinda hate seeing American Pie getting thrown on the book-burning pile these days (and lumped in with those bullshit DVD sequels) because Eugene Levy does some legitimately great work in it.
Eugene Levy verbally calming the waters is one of entertainment’s great pleasures.
“Oh, hi! I was just looking at the ol’ family photo. That was a fun day, wasn’t it?”
The original premise was about four teenage boys who do whatever it takes to lose their virginity. They might learn a thing or two, but it’s about sex. The end. All these boys are now hovering around 40, their virginities well in the rearview, and other than some lameass theme of “friendship” what is the point in revisiting any of these characters? Other than Jason Biggs fucking a pie or SW Scott drinking pale ale does anybody remember one goddamn thing either the men or women have done in any of the subsequent follow-ups?
Here’s the thing, though, the “Presents” series is a spinoff of the main series. Aside from Eugene Levy’s character, who isn’t in Girls’ Rules, none of the characters from the main films are in here. Instead, it’s usually a younger relative of one of the main characters, typically a cousin. In this film’s case, we’re getting a female Stifler.
To find out for sure, we’ll just have to wait until the film is released and magically appears on discounted DVD racks in truck stop convenience stores across the country.“Booksmart,” mentioned twice in this three-paragraph post, had a worldwide gross of $25 million. The last AP movie, “American Reunion,” had a worldwide gross of $235 million. But, yeah, it’s “insane” that anyone would make another one.
And considering the title, it seems like they’re trying to cash in on the popularity of Booksmart. They drew the dots, and they can’t even connect them.
I’d say it has more to do with Blockers and Neighbors 2, honestly.
Yeah, but the tastemakers* liked it.*writers for sites like these who watched it online.
Band Camp, The Naked Mile, The Book of Love…am I forgetting any of the other “AP Presents” installments? Never saw any of them but I feel like they advertised about once per half hour on Comedy Central/Adult Swim for a few years in the late Aughts (“Laughts”)
According to Wikipedia, you missed Beta House, which came between Naked Mile and Book of Love.
I’m…really not sure how American Pie is “#problematic.”Have you ever seen it? It’s a proto-Apatow movie, not fucking Porky’s.
I think a lot of folks consider the Shannon Elizabeth scene to be problematic since she didn’t know she was on a webcam.
Ah, I forgot about that – was Jim intentionally filming it?
That would make every single thing Shannon Elizabeth has been in “problematic” because she never seems to know that there’s a camera there. Or that she’s supposed to be doing anything.
Right, and the scene in Blockers where John Cena had to “chug” a beer through a beer bong inserted into his rectum was the height of sophistication. Obviously the nonconsensual filming scene in the first American Pie is gross, for much-discussed reasons, but other than that the film is fairly tame and hard to argue with morally, and it’s at least somewhat progressive in some ways (e.g. one of the subplots involves one of the guys learning that he needs to pleasure his girlfriend if he wants her to have sex with him).
Actually, Blockers also includes a scene where several adults spy on and then physically intrude in their friends’ naked blindfolded foreplay, which is played entirely for laughs, so it’s got its own consent issues.
Liar. No one that watched Blockers actually remembers anything from the movie.
I watched it on an airplane and you’re right.
Long live Game Night.
I watched it a few weeks ago, and there are a ton of great bits!
I imagine Ryan Reynolds has 35mm prints of all these turds, and watches them all while laughing hysterically in the plush screening room in his house that we’ve all bought him. Ah, that Ryan. Cutting edge of comedy. What’s he gonna do next? Call someone a name?I have no explanation for this random bout of shitting on Ryan Reynolds. Just felt right.
Just leave my girl Blake out of it
American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (apostrophe placement up for debate)This is some very interesting grammatical quibbling to see in this era of The AVClub, when most articles are copy-edited by the commentariot. But in case you’re wondering, it’s solid. Given the rules belong to two or more girls.
I mean, there’s plenty of film titles with missing apostrophes (remember “Two Weeks Notice”?) and I’m sure there’s some with incorrect ones.
(remember “Two Weeks Notice”?)
No, I don’t.
*commentariat
If you watch the video, you’ll see that the debate is because three “official” posts put the apostrophe in different places, not just because it looks weird after the s
Not clicking that video: if I want woke-in-hindsight reappraisals of what’s problematic in old movies, I’ll choose anybody but chunky white beardy dudes to hear it from.
But you’re missing out on an obnoxious, nasally British accent droning on for 20 minutes!
I’ll bet Kirino Sucks looks and sounds exactly like that guy.
I love that you think it’s British. As a Kiwi myself it’s pretty easy to identify but I guess Not American = British lmao
Oh, sorry. Thanks for letting me know that Kiwis are obnoxiously nasal when they speak, too. It must go very well with your shitty online personalities.
Those pies aren’t going to fuck themselves, you know.
Well, not with that attitude they won’t.
Can’t find any plot details, but looking at the cast list on Wikipedia, this is most definitely one of those movies girl child stars use to break their purity image, as most of the female cast seems to be made up of former Disney Channel sitcom stars.Also, Ed Quinn (Nathan Stark on Eureka), Sara Rue (Brenda on Rules of Engagement), and Barry Bostwick (Brad in Rocky Horror Picture Show) are all in the film, too. Bostwick’s character’s name is apparently “PeePaw.” It’s also being directed by Mike Elliot, who also directed Beethoven’s Big Break (the sixth in the series), Blue Crush 2, and The Scorpion King 4: The Quest for Power.
Got my copy on pre-order at the local Dollar General.