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The gang return to East Great Falls for their High School Reunion, unlike the Direct-To-DVD American Pie’s of the past, all the major cast are back until one roof and the original writer too.

We meet the gang a decade after their pact to lose their virginity before prom and how things have changed. Jim and Michelle are now married with a two-year old and struggling to find the time for one another. Oz is a celebrity, making a name for himself as a sport-caster and a stint on Dancing With the Stars. Whilst Kevin is a house-husband come architect, Finch is a mystery to everyone and Stifler is still being Stifler as a temp at a corporation.

When everyone gets together they agree to have a weekend of partying like the old days, but whilst they were once the horny teenagers, now a girl Jim used to babysit is looking to lose her virginity, to Jim!

I do love nostalgia, it reminds me of what used to be a simpler age (at least what seemed to be simpler). I was a horny teenager myself when the first American Pie was released and I’ve enjoyed the main sequels to (although not dipped into the Direct-to-DVD catalogue). As is inevitable with sequels, the quality diminishes and it seems that most are happy to just re-hash the original plot over again, sticking to the old rule, “if it ain’t broke”.

Even over ten years later, that’s exactly what you’re getting with American Reunion. Sure, it’s bringing the franchise to a new audience and there are a couple of great laughs, but as I left the theatre I asked myself, “what did I laugh at?” I struggled to remember.

What I did remember however was a string of shameless nudity scenes that really didn’t serve as anything to the plot other than to excite the teenage boys in the theatre…and perhaps to some extent, the girls. I remember Eugene Levy getting rather more screen time but most of it just vanishing into the background, as did most of the character’s stories and ultimately the entire plot. American Reunion just became a “spot the original member” movie.

American Reunion was enjoyable, but just as an excuse to see the familiar faces back together again. The writing, despite getting the original author, Adam Herz, on board, is mediocre and the story really quite thin on the ground.

In many ways this is the perfect American Reunion, full of awkward moments and people that were probably best forgotten. Great shame that this couldn’t have been much more than a trip down memory lane.