American Pie Presents: Band Camp

A spin-off from the successful American Pie films, Band Camp features none of the series' central cast members, and only a couple of its peripheral ones, the action focusing on the antics of 'douche majeure' Matt, younger brother of the legendary Steve 'Stiffmeister' Stifler. After Matt (played by Tad Hilgenbrink, who does a pretty good Seann William Scott impersonation) goes too far with one of his practical jokes, he is sent to band camp for punishment, where he continues to cause all manner of trouble, at least until the predictably cheesy finale when he has an epiphany and changes his ways.

American Pie and its sequels are renowned for for their gross out humour, so Band Camp naturally does its best to emulate this style, being as outrageous as possible, with gags involving a variety of bodily fluids and bizarre sexual situations—some of which are reasonably amusing, most of which aren't. However, another major factor in the success of the American Pie series was the heartwarming friendships forged by its likable group of high-schoolers—and that is where Band Camp totally screws up! By concentrating the action on such a colossal jerk as Matt, a person who goes out of his way to alienate and irritate almost everyone he meets, Band Camp immediately sets off on the wrong foot and continues to do so until the very final scene.

Thankfully, the band camp that mischievous Matt is sent to is also attended by some extremely attractive girls, including rather delicious band-leader Elyse (Arielle Kebbel) and busty tuba playing babe Chloe (Crystle Lightning) which does mean that, from a bloke's perspective at least, making it through to the bitter end isn't quite as difficult as it could have been.

Whoever owns the rights to "American Pie" is being pretty capitalistic about it. You can name twenty characters Stifler if you want, it doesn't change the fact that this is a rather uninspired effort to cash in which bizarrely works. You can judge it standing by itself, but just keep in mind it was never intended to stand by itself. So here Stifler's brother Matt (who's not even the same guy from "American Pie 2") is punished for pulling an on all levels pretty lame prank. The Sherminator meanwhile has become a school counselor and sends him to band camp, which as it turns out, currently employs Jim's Dad. It's like bad fan fiction came to life. So naturally he pulls more pranks on the rivals like, two. They get back at him like, once. The rest is filled up with very bothersome references to the actual "American Pie"-movies, semi-naked chicks and extremely irritating love subplots including a horrendously clichéd nerd you just can't possibly side with. Add a last fifteen minutes that's like the Siberian prison edit of "Family Matters" and you start wondering why it's still somewhat enjoyable. Perhaps it's the presence of Eugene Levy in yet another movie he's too talented for. The sunscreen gag was pretty good too I guess. This "American Pie presents" crap needs to end though, even if you don't give any thought to how a movie can present anything, it's still a thorn in the eye to the franchise.

After hearing quite a few negative comments/remarks/reviews about this film, I had somewhat lowered expectations.

Not to mention the fact that it was following what is undoubtedly the greatest comedy trilogy of our generation, and perhaps arguably any other. Attempting to follow the footsteps of any of the American Pie's is quite a task, let alone all three.

Anyway, I expected disappointment. This was in no way as good or as funny as American Pie 2 or American Wedding, nor was it as groundbreaking as American Pie. But, there were certainly a lot of laughs. I was impressed at the acting of the guy who played Stiffler's younger brother.

As someone who basically grew up with the American Pie movie series, I'll always enjoy those movies, and watch them with a sense of nostalgia, for I was in similar points in my life to all the characters at the times the moview were originally released. For that reason this movie actually made me feel old.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, and am considering adding it to the collection. I'd say it's a solid 7-8 out of 10. Definitely worth watching, but not quite the caliber of the original three.

I must say I like all the American Pie movies, but without the original cast I was a bit skeptical. This movie has all the crude humor and laughs that the others had. I enjoyed the character of Matt Stifler although I think they could have gone even farther with the making of the videos. Overall a very good teen flick that anyone can enjoy. I liked this better than most comedies lately and I hope that Matt and Elyse can return in "American Family" since Michelle was pregnant in this one. I think that would be a great way to end the series. I'm hoping that people give this movie a chance and realize that although the Stifler character is over the top, the movie does send a message. It's a funny and sometimes disgusting way to do so but definitely a worthy one indeed.

It's not some great masterpiece of cinematography, of course, but the actors are acting well, the script , even it is as cliché as they get, it well written and the lead character makes a great Stifler act. I mean, I even wondered if the actor playing the original Stifler's brother is his actual brother!

Short story shorter: phony bad guy finds love and decides to come out of the closet and show the world his inner beauty. Lots of American Pie type jokes, but better than what I had expected and it was perfect for a sleepless night with nothing else to watch.

Bottom line: comparable in quality with the first American Pie.