American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (2009)

Directed by: John Putch | 90 minutes | comedy | Actors: Eugene Levy, Bug Hall, Kevin M. Horton, Brandon Hardesty, Beth Behrs, Melanie Papalia, Jennifer Holland, John Patrick Jordan, Cindy Busby, Naomi Hewer, Adrienne Carter, Kevin Federline, Louisa Lytton, Edwin Perez, Taryn Maria, Carrie Keagan, Nico McEown, Jessica Drake, Rosanna Arquette, Robert Romanus, Jesse Bernstein, Karin Konoval, Robert Miles, Crystal Tisiga, Melissa Anne Mercedes, Jennifer-Juniper Angeli, Everrett Latourelle, Eduardo Noda, C. Thomas Howell, Tim Matheson, Christopher Knight, Brett Michaels

New parts are released regularly, based on the ‘American Pie’ formula, in which horny guys look for sex and love – but especially sex, where they end up in all kinds of embarrassing situations. This is already the seventh installment in the “American Pie” series. After the three feature films with more or less the same core cast (‘American Pie’, ‘American Pie 2’ and ‘American Wedding’), a number of direct-to-DVD sequels were released under the umbrella title: ‘American Pie Presents’, with illustrious titles like ‘Band Camp’, ‘The Naked Mile’ and ‘Beta House’.

The last two titles were more about a slightly older group, namely students. With ‘The Book of Love’ the makers wanted to bring the film series back to its roots: a couple of boys at East Great Falls High School try to lose their virginity, but encounter unexpected obstacles on the sex path. There are three protagonists who each struggle with a different problem: Rob (Bug Hall) is in love with his best friend Heidi (Beth Behrs), but is afraid to admit it. When she announces she’s ready to lose her virginity, Rob wants to be the one, but she doesn’t seem to see him as a candidate. Nate (Kevin M. Horton) has girlfriend Dana (Melanie Papalia), but she has discovered religion after being a party animal and won’t have sex again until after she gets married. The chubby Lube (Brandon Hardesty) is not popular at all and he has his sights set on the handsome and popular Ashley (Jennifer Holland). When Rob accidentally sets the library on fire when he catches Heidi there with a boy, the sprinklers make everything soaking wet. While cleaning up, Rob suddenly finds the ‘Book of Love’ with all kinds of sex tips from former students over a period of forty years. Every student who has found the book has expanded it with his experiences.

The story is fairly predictable and it doesn’t really help that the acting isn’t the film’s forte. Unfortunately, that also applies to a large part of the jokes, which are only mediocre. It is typical puberty fun, where Kijkwijzer should not so much apply a minimum age, but a maximum age. This film is not suitable for ages 16 and up. For example, a number of situations are intended to be funny, but so poorly developed that they are even offensive to the intelligence of the target group. Also, the ‘American Pie’ series is not exactly known for its good taste, but the boundaries that are crossed here go very far. Who thought it was fun to have one of the characters chased by a (horribly poorly computer-animated) moose and have this beast pounce and rape? Whatever inspired the makers, it could never have been humor. There are more moments that go so over the top that they miss their target.

That’s a shame, because the film itself has its charms: the protagonists are sympathetic and their experiences, although sometimes embarrassing and very extreme (the peanut butter sandwich for example), are generally recognizable for many teenagers. The rancidity is quite distracting, because even without the most tasteless jokes, the film would still be recognizable as an ‘American Pie’ film. Especially once Mr. Levenstein (Eugene Levy) shows up, the father of the hapless Jim from the first three parts. Levy was the only one to star in all six previous films and although he only has his first scene here after an hour, that part of the film is also the most successful. mr. Levenstein turns out to be the original author of the “Book of Love” and a nice montage follows in which the main characters try to trace all previous authors (including a number of more or less familiar faces). Unfortunately, that part is far too short to raise the level of the entire film. And so this part of the ‘American Pie’ series continues to disappoint. And that while somewhere in the mess there is a much better film hidden.