American Wedding

American Wedding (known as American Pie 3: The Wedding or American Pie: The Wedding, in some countries) is a 2003 American sex comedy film and a sequel to "American Pie" and "American Pie 2". It is the third (originally intended final) installment in the "American Pie" theatrical series. It was written by Adam Herz and directed by Jesse Dylan. Another sequel, "American Reunion", was released nine years later. This stands as the last film in the series to be written by Herz, who conceptualized the franchise, and also the only film in the series that does not star Chris Klein, who plays Oz, Chris Owen who plays Sherman, Mena Suvari, who plays Heather, Tara Reid who plays Vicky, Shannon Elizabeth who plays Nadia and Natasha Lyonne who plays Jessica. The film's main plot focuses on the wedding ceremony of Jim Levenstein and Michelle Flaherty, and a subplot centers on Steve Stifler, and his outrageous antics including his attempt to organize a bachelor party, teaching Jim to dance for the wedding, and competing with Finch to win the heart of Michelle's sister, Cadence.
Plot.
At dinner, Jim Levenstein prepares to ask Michelle to marry him when Jim's dad calls to inform him that he has the ring. Michelle misinterprets when Jim stalls the question and Jim's dad arrives as he is receiving fellatio from under the restaurant table. The mishap grasps the restaurant's attention but Jim proposes and Michelle accepts.
Jim wishes to exclude Steve Stifler from the wedding; who becomes upset when he learns of this. Stifler agrees to teach Jim how to dance if he is allowed at the wedding. Jim asks Stifler to tone down his obnoxious personality in exchange for planning the bachelor party. Jim, Stifler, Paul Finch, and Kevin Meyers travel to Chicago when they discover there is only one designer who makes the dress that Michelle wants. Stifler unwittingly walks into a gay bar, and his raucous behavior gets him into a dispute with several patrons. Stifler defeats Bear in a dance-off, who offers to provide strippers for the bachelor party. Dress designer Leslie reveals himself and agrees to make the dress for Michelle. Michelle's parents, who were initially skeptical of Jim, agree to have dinner with him.
Michelle's younger sister, Cadence, flies in for the wedding. Both Finch and Stifler are attracted to her, and in an effort to win her over, they each adopt the other's personality. Stifler arranges the bachelor party but does not inform Jim, who unknowingly has arranged dinner with Michelle's parents at his home. With assistance from Bear, who poses as a butler named "Mr. Belvedere", Jim nearly succeeds in keeping the activities a secret, until Michelle's mother opens a closet door and is shocked to find Kevin inside; blindfolded, stripped to his boxers, and tied to a chair. The boys explain that it was an failed attempt to make Jim seem like a hero, and Michelle's parents tell him that if he puts that much effort into the upcoming marriage, they can give their blessing.
Michelle is concerned that Jim's paternal grandmother disapproves of the wedding because she is not Jewish. On the night before the wedding, Stifler inadvertently disrupts the walk-in refrigerator's power supply while retrieving a bottle of champagne in an attempt to seduce Cadence which kills the flowers. Previously, Stifler—unaware of Cadence's presence—had revealed his true rude and obnoxious personality. Angry, Jim asks him to leave, and all the others, including Cadence, support Jim's decision.
Feeling guilty for his thoughtless behavior, Stifler convinces the florist to put together a new batch of flowers, and he enlists the help of his football players and Bear. As a gesture of remorse, he also gives a rose to Cadence. Moved by his actions, Cadence agrees to have sex with him in a supply closet before the ceremony, but Stifler's presence is delayed by a brief thank-you meeting Jim calls among his groomsmen, citing how he is grateful to have friends like them. Quickly returning to the hotel, Stifler hears someone in the supply closet and steps inside, unaware that Cadence was interrupted by wedding preparations and that the ushers, the "MILF guys" from high school, placed Jim's grandmother in that closet to sustain her hostility about the wedding; Stifler only realizes this upon walk-in by Finch and Kevin. She becomes pleasant, particularly towards Stifler, making Michelle and Jim's dad unknowingly happy.
Despite the chaotic events leading up to it, Michelle and Jim get married. At the reception, the couple dances while Stifler dances with Cadence. Finch sits by himself when Stifler's mom arrives. Although agreeing they are over each other, Stifler's mom mentions having a hotel suite and invites Finch to join her. The film ends with the "MILF guys" by the names of Justin and John spying on Stifler's mom and Finch having sex in the hot tub.
Soundtrack.
The film's soundtrack includes songs by Van Morrison, Blue October, The Working Title, Foo Fighters, Feeder, Avril Lavigne, American Hi-Fi, Sum 41, the All-American Rejects, Joseph Arthur, New Found Glory, and Hot Action Cop. Badly Drawn Boy and The Libertines also have songs in the feature. Note that most songs used were already singles. And, this is the first film to feature the song "Laid" (Matt Nathanson covering the band James) in both the trailers and the opening sequence. Notably, it is also the only film in the series to not play the song "Mrs. Robinson" in a scene where Finch has sex with Stifler's mother. It is also the first of the "American Pie" films not to feature a blink-182 song.
The song "Into the Mystic", played at the end of the film when Jim and Michelle take to the dance floor at the reception, begins as Van Morrison's recording, but midway through it changes to The Wallflowers' cover version due to licensing reasons. The band's lead singer Jakob Dylan is the brother of the film's director Jesse Dylan.
The film's soundtrack peaked at number 23 on the "Billboard" 200 chart.
Songs that appear during Stifler's dance in the gay bar:
Songs that appear during the bachelor party:
Release.
"American Wedding" was released in the United States on August 1, 2003 and opened at #1 with $33,369,440 before dropping 53.7% the next weekend, landing at #3 behind the new releases of "S.W.A.T." and "Freaky Friday". Closing about 3.5 months later (November 20, 2003), the film had grossed a domestic total of $104,565,114 and $126,884,089 overseas for a worldwide total of $231,449,203, based on a $55 million budget. Despite being a huge box office success, it is the lowest-grossing film in the series, making roughly $3 million less than "American Reunion" would in 2012.
"American Wedding" grossed $15.85 million on DVD and was the number seven DVD rental in 2004.
Reception.
"American Wedding" received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, assigns the film a rating of 54%, based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Raunchier and even more gross than the first two American Pies, "American Wedding" ought to please fans of the series." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 43 out of 100, based on 34 critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".
Robert Koeler of "Variety" compared it to the works of John Waters and called it a "strong finish" for the franchise. Roger Ebert rated it 3/4 stars and wrote that the film "is proof of the hypothesis that no genre is beyond redemption." Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "struggles so hard to be tasteless that it's almost quaint." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" rated it 2/5 stars and called it strained and desperate to find jokes.