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Sometimes you just don't need to change the recipe. Like its predecessor, American Pie 2 is superficially full of gross-out laddishness, but there’s a moral tale lurking beneath all the jokes about masturbation, voyeurism and men's sexual prowess--or their lack of it. Jim (Jason Biggs) spends his first summer home from college trying to get himself ready for Nadia, the Czech woman he almost slept with in the first film. He goes to Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), his actual first partner, for pointers on technique--and learns lessons he did not expect. His friends--Finch, Oz, Kevin and the appalling Stiffler--are similarly educated during their summer vacation. This is a film that boasts many profoundly dirty jokes, but gets away with this lewd, crude and rude behaviour due to its charm and charisma.

On the DVD: the DVD is packed with special features, including commentaries by director James B Rogers, writer Adam Herz and various cast members as well as an outtakes section, some deleted scenes and a music video. There’s a standard "making of" ("baking of") feature with some likable cast interviews that stress the friendliness of the set. There are subtitle options in English and Hindi, and the feature is presented in an anamorphic widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound that does justice to both the raucously loud rock score and the sparky dialogue. --Roz Kaveney

Release Date: Mar 18, 2002
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To the horror of prudes everywhere, American Pie 2 is even funnier than its popular predecessor. You'll either be appalled or surprised by its defiant celebration of the young adult male libido. Females will be equally shocked or delighted, because like American Pie this appealing, character-based comedy puts the women in control while offering a front-row view of horny guys in all their dubious glory. Which is to say, American Pie is mostly about sex--or, to be more specific, breasts, genitalia, "potential" lesbianism, blue silicone sex toys, crude methods of seduction, "the rule of three" (just watch the movie), a shower of "champagne", phone sex, tantric sex, and, oh yeah... superglue. In the case of college freshman Jim (Jason Biggs), performance anxiety plagues his upcoming reunion with sexy Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), but his buddies from American Pie have a solution: rent a Lake Michigan beach house for the summer, throw wild parties to lure the local "hotties" and score big-time. BeachParty this ain't: blessed with a complete cast reunion from AP1 (including Eugene Levy as Jim's dad), this sequel is anything but innocent and pretty much anything goes. The gags are almost non-stop and director JB Rogers (recovering from his debut debacle Say It Isn't So) handles them with laudable precision, allowing his young cast (particularly Biggs, who epitomises comedic good sportsmanship) to run with lines that most people wouldn't dare utter aloud. The result is a liberating and eminently good-natured comedy that needn't apologise for its one-track mind. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Release Date: Jan 15, 2002