baileycrawly

There's a certain level of expectation one could realistically have when approaching a Hollywood adaptation of a musical written by the same individual who penned the genius "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Going into West Side Story were all the expectations of quality storytelling, unique plot twists and compelling dialogue that have all left an impression on me from the moment I walked out of Sweeney Todd.

Boy, was I wrong.

This film, which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 1961 (and, per the VHS version that was viewed today, is "Nothing short of a cinema masterpiece!" according to the New York Times) is an absolute mess of a film.

The plot (which is usually rather thin when it pertains to musicals to begin with) is almost completely non-existent and, when there are elements of plot to be found, it is merely a copy and paste (the only major changes being the character's names) of William Shakespeare's far superior tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The music, save for the iconic "I Feel Pretty" number, is largely bland and falls completely flat. Even the final scene, the one that precedes the credits, feels forced and unnatural. The emotion that is supposed to be illicited in the audience falls just as flat as everything else in the film. YAWN. The acting, accents included, was subpar and not captivating enough to justify the existence of the film, and the overall atmosphere of the movie was slow-moving and, quite frankly, a waste of undoubtedly expensive film.

This movie has no true rhyme or reason, nor does it have any particular reason to exist... or business existing in the first place, evidently.

The only reason this film played beyond the 45 minute mark in this household is for the viewer (me) to be able to say that I have, in fact, seen West Side Story in its entirety.

And if I never see it again, it will be far too soon.

This movie is a perfect textbook example of what NOT to do when it comes to filmmaking. It's a story that is attempting to showcase the female perspective that is so painfully and obviously written by men who don't have the slightest clue what they're talking about. It's painfully unfunny, painfully uninspired, uninteresting and just simply a bland and boring movie. There was not one moment of the film that was even slightly interesting, not one plot point that offered anything of substance for the viewers, and not one second of the movie that was actually worth watching. If I was not progressing through the American Pie series as a whole, I would not have watched this movie and, by any other name, it would've been swept under the rug of Hollywood for the abysmal failure of a film that it truly was. Absolutely disgraceful movie that is better left completely forgotten. NOT American Pie, NOT a comedy movie and NOT something any respectable individual should ever be asked to watch.

American Reunion is my second favorite of the core American Pie quadrilogy.

This is an interesting movie. It keeps all of the comedy elements that worked from the previous entries, isn't afraid to try new things and attempt to get laughs from new places (with a surprising degree of success) and, at the same time, showcasing the iconic legacy characters that viewers have come to know and love while at the same time allowing the characters to breathe, presenting a welcome character development that adds quality to the overall experience of the franchise.

While far from perfect, both as an American Pie movie and as a comedy movie in general, this one is definitely a decent one overall and will definitely be included in future viewings.