Reviewing movies since 1984, online film critic since 1998. Here you will find a film essay or review, interviews, and a focus on certain trends in current Hollywood, and what's eclipsed in favor of something more mainstream.
At the start of the overcooked though still fitfully fun "Aquaman," Nicole Kidman gets into a roller derby of action dynamics. Say what? You read that right, as Atlanna, the Queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, she is found ashore at a lighthouse by its keeper, Thomas Curry (Temuera Derek Morrison). They live together and have a son named Arthur, who has a supersonic ability of communicating with ocean life. Before one looks too deeply at this prologue, Atlantean soldiers find Atlanna and they engage in hand-to-hand combat. The movie lays its eggs and the fish hatch a little too soon but hey, this is modern 2010 superhero moviemaking where moments can't be wasted by too much exposition...or too little.
How soon do the fish eggs hatch you may ask? When we first discover the adult Arthur aka Aquaman (Jason Momoa) not along after that opening, he lifts a hijacked submarine to the surface, engages in more hand-to-hand combat, throws people around like confetti, you get the idea. Everything is maximized to the 1 millionth power and though it is often exuberant to watch, it can be a bit mind-numbing in its excess. After a while, you hope for some measure of intimacy and some quiet place with John Krasinski.
Excess defines "Aquaman" - the movie ricochets from one extravagant, mind-blowing, visually detailed set piece to another. From the confines of a local bar to the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara, to the enormity of the Atlantis underwater world (which includes a giant octopus playing drums prior to a death match), to Sicily where just about every gift shop, restaurant and museum is virtually destroyed during another one of those extended fight sequences, to finally the lighthouse in the opening and closing scenes which looks more high-contrast in its picturesque quality than was probably required.
Simplicity is the not the middle name of Aquaman. He is strong, blustery and has a wink and an arched eyebrow to remind us that Momoa is in on the joke. The film is playfully tongue-in-cheek and has lots of comedic lines thanks to Momoa, my favorite being after Amber Heard's Atlantean princess jumps out of a plane without a parachute: "Redheads!"Speaking of Amber Heard, her flamingly-red-hot hair that might burn a man's hand off is its own character and she stands up well against Momoa. Dolph Lundgren as King of an Atlantean tribe and Willem Dafoe as Aqua's mentor are not terribly memorable yet they are adequate for what is required - I might have switched the roles and had Dafoe as the King and Lundgren as the mentor. Patrick Wilson as Aquaman's brother who has dastardly plans is not terribly convincing.
By the time the film concludes with a CGI underwater battle with an epic "The Lord of the Rings" vibe and Aquaman holding his prized Trident as if it was King Arthur's Excalibur, I got confused by which Kingdom was fighting whom (I am not going to get into specific tribe names but it seems as if there are hundreds). Too many sea creatures battling it out crowds the pleasure and joy from the far less busy action workouts earlier in the film (and that is putting it mildly). Occasionally there is the racist reference to Aquaman being a half-breed (a huge difference from the original comic-book) and it is given some heft by the Atlanteans (after all, can a half-breed rule Atlantis?) Momoa rules the film, though when he is knocking down beers with his dad, I felt more at home than in Atlantis.
You may know Beatrice Boepple as a younger Amanda Krueger from 1989's "Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child." She confronts the evil of her wicked bastard son of a hundred maniacs, Freddy Krueger, helping the teen heroine (Lisa Wilcox) find a way of vanquishing the dream killer, at least till the next sequel. Unfortunately, Boepple never did get a chance to do a reprise. You might also recognize Beatrice from small roles in "Shoot to Kill" with Sidney Poitier, "Stakeout" with Richard Dreyfuss and some notable Canadian films where she played either a terrorist or a troubled girl. Still, it may surprise you to discover that Beatrice has also worked with Johnny Depp and a legend in her own right, oh, let's not spoil it here. Keep reading to find out who.
1.) How did you get the last name Boepple? Is it a German name and were one of your parents German?
Beatrice Boepple: My biological father was Paul Boepple, a Swiss choral director from Basil, Switzerland, which is in the Germanic region of Switzerland (as opposed to the French regions). So the surname Boepple is from the Swiss side of my family. However, since you asked, my maternal grandmother was German. Her family name was Schuchardt. She married my grandfather, Dau-Lin Hsu, who was Chinese, so I am a true mixed-breed, in my case, “Euro-Asian”!
2.) Was acting a major, passionate goal for you in life? Tell me about the origins of it, specifically if there were any theatre roles? I ask because the first role listed on IMDB is the 1986 TV series "The Beachcombers?"
BB: Acting was always a passion of mine. I performed in my very first play when I was 5 years old, living in Japan! I could not yet speak any Japanese, so they didn’t give me any lines. I played a lamb in a Nativity play they put on in my Japanese Kindergarten! After that, I always took part in my school plays, even winning the “best actress” trophy in middle school in Canada! When it came time to decide where to go for college, I was torn between Equestrian Schools to find a career working with horses, or an acting school. My local University, University of Victoria in BC Canada, had a great theatre department and was so much more affordable than Equestrian schools, so that is how I made my decision between my two passions. I did quite a lot of live theatre before landing my first paid TV role, which was "The Beachcombers," as you mentioned. I had done a number of commercials and radio dramas before that, but "Beachcombers" was my first TV gig, and I played the guest star in that iconic Canadian TV series. It sure taught me a lot about the power of editing, and the huge difference between stage and film – especially in close-ups!
Beatrice Boepple as Amanda Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
3.) Getting the role of Amanda Krueger in "Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" must have been an exciting role, I mean you are playing the role of the mother of the most iconic 1980's slasher antihero of a very popular horror movie series. Who contacted you about the role, did you audition and were other actresses also up for the role? BB: When I was living in LA, I shared a lovely agent/manager who had a very small clientele consisting of myself, Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen & Renee Estevez. This agent was the one that got me the audition for "NOES 5." She said that Stephen Hopkins was an up and coming director and that it would be a good career move to work with him. I went in to audition in front of Stephen, two of the producers and one of the writers. I have no idea who else was up for the role because they had me read Amanda’s lines, and we discussed the film and the role for quite a bit. I even sang for them, to show the spooky sound I could create and they ended up hiring me on the spot, which is the only time that ever happened in my career! You normally have to wait at least a few days, and come back for numerous call backs before landing a role (unless you are a big A list star, which, clearly I was not!). I have to be honest though… the sheer magnitude of what it meant to play the mother of such an icon of horror never really seeped in till years and years later. 4.) From what I recall, "Nightmare on Elm Street 5" was an extremely rushed production. It could not have been easy for you, especially the bloody birth scene uttering such lines (which you said with great conviction) like "That is no creature of God!"
BB: You are correct in that filming on #5 was extremely rushed! We had multiple sets and scenes being shot at the SAME TIME!! Re-writes were happening on a daily basis, almost hour to hour, and everyone was everywhere at once. But it was a blast! The cast members were so much fun to hang out with, the sets were so amazing to look at, and it was magical seeing how these fantastical scenes would all come together! My bloody birth scene was definitely bloody, to say the least. We had a cat hidden in a blanket that they used to portray baby Freddy when they first pull him out of me and he leaps out of the nun/nurses hands. I wasn’t yet a mother in real life at the time, so had never given birth, but I just recalled times of great physical challenge and pain, and I think it came out fairly realistically. We had a lot of fun filming it, fake blood and all!
Boepple in 1987's Stakeout
5.) Your other movie credits include roles in "Shoot to Kill" with Sidney Poitier and "Stakeout" with Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez. What were those experiences like, it is not like every actor gets to work with such renown actors like Poitier or playing Estevez's girlfriend?
BB: Getting to work with great actors is one of the highlights of my acting career. Getting to meet Sidney Poitier was wonderful, and I LOVED working with Richard Dreyfuss & Emilio Estevez. Both Richard & Emilio are so down to earth, warm and supportive. I played Emilio’s WIFE (not girlfriend) and we had such a hoot both on and off set. Mickey Rooney was another legend I got to work with (Beatrice played Kelly Haskins, the TV reporter, in "The (New) Adventures of the Black Stallion", season 2, episode #26 called "Ties that Bind" that aired in 1992 starring Rooney) but Katherine Hepburn, I must say, was the one actress I was privileged to work with, whom truly I felt star-struck with on set. But she, too, was so down to earth and lovely to work with. The project that I got to work with her on was a 1988 made-for-TV film titled "Laura Lansing Slept Here" where I played Ms. Hepburn's character's literary agent secretary. My scenes were cut, so I get no credit for that show. I might see if I can find the cut clips, if not long ago thrown away. It would just be amazing to have clips of myself working with Katherine... such a legend!
Yes, it was a true honor to have been able to work with so many great actors, but while the camera was rolling, it would always only be whatever character I was playing, interacting with whatever character they were playing. While the camera rolled, there was no distinction between the famous and the not famous. THAT only showed in the size of our dressing rooms and the extra treats some of us got! LOL!! 6.) I'll be honest, I never heard of the 1989 Canadian flick "Quarantine," (not an easy film to locate) what was that film all about since it is, I gather, your one main lead film role? The 1989 Canadian TV Movie "Matinee" was your sole TV lead role, correct?
Boepple in 1989's Quarantine
Boepple in 1989's Matinee
BB: The 1989 film "Quarantine" is a very low budget Canadian film, not to be confused by a film by the same name that came out in 2008. Taking the summary from IMDb: In a futuristic society being decimated by plague, a fascist movement seizes power and quarantines not only the plague victims, but anyone related to them. A Rebel trying to assassinate a particularly reactionary senator takes a computer programmer hostage, in an attempt to free her father who is a scientist trying to track and eradicate the disease. I play that rebel, and had such a blast getting to play the lead in that film. Unfortunately, the script was pretty weak, and the director & I weren’t on the same page as to how my character should be played. In the end, the way I portrayed her just didn’t really work. Funny though, that I find copies of that film in all sorts of foreign countries, each time with a totally different name. I guess that’s one way they got out of ever paying any of us a penny in residuals! "Matinee," oddly, was not a TV movie but a feature film, yet I see it listed as a made-for-TV movie all the time too. That also was a low budget Canadian film, and we filmed it right after I finished filming "Quarantine." I got to do those two films back to back. What a great year! I actually think it’s not a bad film. The actor who played my dad in it, Richard Davis, plays the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files and the actor who played my boss in that show was Don Davis, who played Captain William Scully on the X-Files and Major General Hammond in "Stargate SG-1." These were both friends of mine, so working together was a real treat for us all!
7.) What role did you play on the TV series "21 Jump Street" considering you were appearing with another Elm Street alum, Johnny Depp? BB: I played the role of Kerri Munroe on Episode 9 of the first season. Kerri was a high school student, who’s class Johnny’s character joins, and he & I end up on the school’s Scholastic team that wins our way all the way to the championships. Though Johnny was very friendly to me, he seemed like a bored trouble maker, and I was frustrated by the pranks he kept playing on set. In hindsight, he must have been frustrated being cast in such a run-of-the-mill teen heart throb role where he didn’t have room to show his true, much richer acting chops, which we all have seen in his wide array of characters he has played ever since! 8.) Are you looking to return to acting in these visual mediums or in any other capacity?
BB: I have thought about returning to acting, in about 3 years or so, when my kids are all off to college. I would love to play a really scary, creepy old lady (or even an old man – the wonders of makeup & wigs! And chest binding, I suppose!). I’m looking forward to an age where I don’t have to worry about being the “pretty young thing”, and can focus 100% on just being GOOD! LOL!
9.) Aside from say a "dream" role such as a full-scale Amanda Krueger movie, what dream role would you have loved to have played in your career?
BB: Well, I am still alive (knock wood!) so we don’t need to keep it in past tense. What dream role would I LOVE to play? A really strong character that gets to really explore a wide range of emotion, and a character that somehow changes/grows within the film. I don’t care so much about the genera of the film; just that it is well written and the characters are multi-dimensional, as we all are! Anyone have a script for me?? 10.) Is it fun going to conventions and meeting fans, possibly 90 percent who know you as Amanda Krueger?
BB: My goodness YES!! I LOVE meeting fans. And Elm Street fans are so devoted and enthusiastic! It is purely the fans that have kept this franchise alive! If not for the fans, 90% of us who were in these films would be long-forgotten. It’s such a blessing to learn that work I’ve done so long ago has had such an impact on so many people, and to know that our work touched people’s lives. I only wish I got invited to more conventions! If any of you want to meet me in person for a chat, a photo, an autograph, get your friends and anyone you know to write to a convention you plan to go to, and do a writing campaign requesting me. THAT is how we get to these conventions. Fans, and/or awesome agents who plug their clients!
An R-rated comedy about marital affairs with the bright, classy movie star Natalie Wood uttering curse words and other obscenities! Yes, indeed. Though Natalie in the 1970's appeared in only a few TV movies and a forgettable dud like "Meteor," she always carried an edge of having lived a bitter , lonely existence. What is sweet about her role as a mother and wife who has a second sexual awakening in "The Last Married Couple in America" is that she sells the role, hook, line and sinker. The movie is hardly revolutionary in concept (it needed more tinkering in the screenplay department) yet it is really Natalie Wood and George Segal who bring the movie the comic energy it needs.
George Segal is Jeff, a successful architect who is happily married to Mari (Natalie Wood), a sculptor who works at home. They have three boys and a pleasant house in Beverly Hills. Jeff and Mari can't help but notice that their friends are divorcing, left and right. Every day, there is news of another divorce and it begins to affect Jeff and Mari (the couples all play football together and after a while, there is nobody left to play with). Jeff considers himself a saint when it comes adultery, yet Mari did have a past affair (nowadays, many of the Me Too movement will scoff at the fact that Jeff mentions that he slapped Mari after learning of the deceit). Before Jeff can discuss the "new morality" and act on it, he is bed hopping with not one but two women (an unrecognizable blonde vixen played by Valerie Harper who is insistent on jumping Jeff's bones, and naturally Priscilla Barnes). Jeff is infected with Gonorrhea ("The Clap?") and once Mari gets wind of his deceit, promptly asks for a separation and goes on her own affair with a younger man.
The film does go off course with the introduction of Dom DeLuise as a (breathe while you read this) porno actor who wants to stage a birthday party with hookers at Jeff's house! Why at Jeff's house when there are kids there I don't know but, then again, I would not be surprised. My parents were a swinging couple and, yes, Moral Majority please note, I was often in another room while activities occurred when I was not much younger than 11.
But enough digressions, "The Last Married Couple in America" is fitfully entertaining though it could've been sharper, deeper without a cop-out ending. Natalie considered it to be an update on one of her best films, "Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice," and I would agree yet that earlier film had a clearer emotional truth to it about sex and naked honesty. This film only parades around such issues without enough emphasis (though Wood has one heartbreaking scene where she complains about her pimple, the kids, her age and how a gas station is replacing a local market. You don't need more proof than that to know Natalie Wood always found a way to pull your heartstrings). Segal and Wood are a believable couple and there are enough crazy situational comic scenes to render the film a slight recommendation. To quote the classic film "Sullivan's Travels," it just needed a little more sex in it.
A mood of exacting noirish tones is set in motion right at the start of "Bad Times at El Royale." Some man enters a hotel, mostly in silhouette. He takes apart the floorboards and places a bag full of money under them. He covers it all back up, rather neatly, turns on the radio. Another man arrives at his room. He lets him in and BANG! My heart sank for a second watching this sequence, all told in a master shot, because blood splatters the lens (something that has become a tiresome cliche). My heart immediately sprang back to action when we hear on the soundtrack Edwin Starr's strains of "Twenty Five Miles" and immediately I knew this was going to be a decent crime flick. I had hoped for that until I realized midway through that "Bad Times at the El Royale" is actually a great crime movie, full of neatly developed plot twists, strong character types and a blazing energy throughout that slowly develops into a wallop of an ending. Oh, and the blood splatter? It makes sense later on.
Nothing is what it seems at the El Royale. A few customers arrive at this Lake Tahoe hotel, somewhere in the middle of nowhere and relatively inexpensive to boot, and are greeted by a bellboy who pretty much handles the whole darn hotel - there are no other staffers. The hotel is unusual in that a line cuts right through it, a line that separates Nevada from California (this makes for some complications about which room to board since smoking and gambling regulations apply). At first, I thought the movie was going to be more comical than serious because it could've mined the shenanigans involved in crossing the line at this hotel, when to get food and amenities, the unusual circumstances involving one solo staffer, etc. Alas, that is not to be because we see that nobody at this hotel is up to much good. Jon Hamm is presumably a vacuum cleaner salesman, Laramie, who remembers when the hotel was kicking with activity, though he is not what he seems. Laramie investigates and rips out listening devices from his room and ventures into a forbidden back room section where we can eavesdrop every room (there are two-way mirrors). Next we have the arrival of forgetful Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who often stands still unsure of where he is; an ex-soul singer named Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo from Broadway's "Color Purple") who has encountered sexism, racism and a whole lot more, and a mysterious woman (Dakota Johnson) who writes an obscenity instead of her name on the guest list who also brings along a bound girl from her own trunk! The bellboy also passes out occasionally after ingesting heroin - not exactly the staffer of the year.
Laramie is not the only one with secrets, practically every other character harbors some well-kept secret. In almost a labyrinthian (with sanguine tones) variation on "Ten Little Indians," we begin to wonder who is really interested in that duffel bag of money and what some of the motivations are behind these characters. It may not be much of a surprise to discover that Father Flynn is not really a priest, but what motivates Darlene Sweet to commit the violent action she perpetrates against him? Why is Laramie so interested in the hotel's surveillance? What about a mysterious reel of 16mm film in the bellboy's sleeping quarters? And how about the virulent Chris Hemsworth who appears as a Manson-like cult leader as he is summoned by the young girl who is bound to a chair in Dakota's room? So many questions.
"Bad Times at the El Royale," directed by Drew Goddard ("The Cabin in the Woods"), is 2 hours and 21 minutes and every minute is packed with tension, humor, unexpected surprises and pathos. With a killer soundtrack that conveniently plays on the main floor of the hotel's jukebox, the film unfolds at a swift though never hurried pace. The performances muster just enough emotion and nuance to get the plot rolling along. Bridges towers above them all and his final scenes with Erivo are amazingly powerful. Ditto the casting of Cailee Spaeny as the bound girl who could easily pass for a Manson Girl - her character is memorably stoic and terrifying. Jon Hamm exudes a lot of the expected charm of a typical 60's salesman - hey, he's got the look down pat especially if you remember TV's "Mad Men."
Though the film is nothing new technically, it is patterned (aside from an echo of "Ten Little Indians") after Quentin Tarantino's own crime oeuvre with a dash of the Coen Brothers from the "Barton Fink" days. Tarantino lately has not been packing much of a punch but who cares - "Bad Times at El Royale" shows a lot more flair and an acute sense of itself without overplaying its hand. That is more than I can say for Tarantino who can push the running time of his films beyond what our patient butts can handle. Goddard packs it in tightly. What a roller coaster ride of a noir movie.
Despite the occasional dead spots, "Splitting Heirs" is one diverting oddball comedy that flashes by quickly yet it never elicited anything more than the mildest chuckles from me. I recommend the movie for its sheer liveliness and infectious spirit but I am not sure I found it that funny and yet, and yet, I cannot completely dismiss it.
Eric Idle is a far too polite banker who is unaware he is the heir to Bournemouth royalty (he was left alone as a baby in a restaurant by his father, a British Lord, and there was an accidental switcheroo with another tot). Rick Moranis is the impostor, the other baby, the heir to Bournemouth as the 15th Duke though he is unaware he's an impostor. Add an attractive sexpot of a mother to Moranis (Barbara Hershey though she is the actual mother to Idle), a social-climbing beauty like Catherine Zeta-Jones who wants to be duchess and the "introduction" of John Cleese and you've got the madcap lunacy of a Monty Python comedy. Alas, not so. The various attempts by Idle to kill Moranis will make you smile, but that is all (the helium-filled scuba gear is hilarious though). Many scenes will make you smile, and some will make you groan but there is nothing here that is laugh-out-loud funny. It's got the cast and occasional humorous situations of an anarchic comedy but not the attitude.
Cleese is hysterical every time he appears as an amoral, homicidal lawyer - a bigger role in this mild state of comic affairs would've benefited the proceedings. "Splitting Heirs" is a movie you can't possibly dislike because it is charming and inoffensive. You also can't hate a movie for featuring a car that completely flips over and is carried along by bicycle tires! Yet with such a diverse comic cast of characters, "Splitting Heirs" is only content in being content with itself.
The "Halloween" series has held a certain fascination with me, I suppose, because every harebrained sequel had the potential to transcend its slasher film cliches. It is easy to forget that the original 1978 shocker, "Halloween," was shocking because of its claustrophobic atmosphere that assumed something more supernatural than the surface reality of another horror thriller about a masked killer (this was before slasher was applied to a disreputable genre where slashing teens became the focus). The young high-school students had a cloud of ambition about them - they were not just disposable, bubble-gum brained girls who had nothing but sex and Mary Jane on their minds (though of course that is mostly what they talk about). There was something cheerfully innocent about them, not knowing what horror awaits. That coupled with the obsessed psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance), who sensed dread was on its way with his runaway patient and mute killer himself, Michael Myers, and an ending that still sends shivers down my spine. None of the sequels matched the original in any aspect but I kept hoping. "Halloween," which arrived in 2018 with no Roman Numerals, discards all sequels and is a purposely direct descendant of the original. Unfortunately, despite some of its strengths, it is occasionally a run-of-the-mill sequel.
Silver-haired Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is back, though now she is an embittered woman and survivalist living in a gated house that is more like a death trap. She is awaiting the day that Mikey Myers escapes and comes after her - she wants to kill him for good and ever. Of course, during a transition to another mental institution by bus, Mikey kills everyone and escapes on Halloween night, eager to obtain his famous William Shatner mask and kill, kill, kill. One truly astounding sequence filmed in an unbroken take has Michael entering two different houses where he acquires a hammer and a knife and brutally kills a couple of unsuspecting women. This sequence reminds one of the haunting sense of menace that Michael has - he lurks, hides in the shadows, and pounces when least expected. It is amazing that nobody has captured that sense of evil in so long. There is also a sequence involving a young kid on a lawn as the lights go off and on and Michael slowly approaches his prey.
"Halloween" has a strong opening with an exacting purpose, that is two British journalists with a podcast who want to interview Laurie Strode and find out what Michael Myers tick. Unfortunately, these characters quickly evaporate and we get an elongated, frustratingly dull excursion into Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), and her escapades with a cheating boyfriend at a Halloween rave party - you'll feel you have entered some teenage rom-com for a minute. We also get a silly inclusion of a Dr. Loomis-type psychiatrist, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), who is a little too taken with Michael. On a positive note there is the vivid presence of Will Patton as a frustrated police officer who's on screen for what regrettably amounts to nothing more than a cameo. What I imagine a lot of fans expected, myself included, was the solid return of Laurie Strode and her revenge for what Mikey did to her friends 40 years earlier. Jamie Lee Curtis has such a remarkable turn as Laurie, full of pathos and nuanced with grief over the years she prepared herself and her family for the inevitable (Judy Greer is given short-shrift as her daughter), and yet she is confined to only a few select scenes. What we mostly get are anonymous teens who are set up for a slaughterhouse and, sure, all they care about is sex and some Mary Jane but the characters are more bloodless than animated. Putting it simply, there are no P.J. Soles personalities on hand here - the resurrected pumpkin during the opening credits has more personality.
I am not completely turned off by this "Halloween" sequel/reboot because there are a few scares, some choice moments for Jamie Lee Curtis and a chilling, suspenseful finish. Michael Myers is still depicted as a mysterious phantom of sorts with a precision-like method of killing, sans all the ridiculous psychological insights from Rob Zombie in his remakes. And yet if the filmmakers (including director and writer David Gordon Green along with co-writer Danny McBride) kept their focus on Laurie and less on the mad psychiatrist and all those disposable teens, we might have had an amazing sequel instead of some serviceable reboot.
I am not a big fan of gross-out comedies, particularly teenage gross-out comedies a la "Porky's" or the "Animal House" variety. Somehow, the idea that teenagers having nothing more on their heads than sexual promiscuity is not very appetizing. Well, sure, I was once a teenager myself, during the
Republican 80's, and I did think about sex, but there were other things on my mind too. "American Pie" is about teens in the 90's, sharing their zestful quest for losing their virginity on prom night. But I am convinced that sex is not the only preoccupation facing teens of America.
Nevertheless, the film's opening sequence is a classic piece of raunchy humor. Jim (Jason Biggs) is watching a porno channel that is barely registering on the cable channel. But the channel's soundtrack is unmistakably clear, as Jim fondles himself until his parents enter the room and are horrified by his
hormonal desires. He gets comical, expert advice from his father (hilariously played by Eugene Levy), who buys him all the porno mags he needs to understand sex. Still, Jim's curiosity gets to him when he is told that sex feels like "warm, apple pie."
Jim is not the only teen in high school hung up on sex - so are all his buddies, mostly lacrosse players. One player (the winsome Chris Klein from "Election") is not all he's cracked up to be, and feels that he has real sensitivity. He woos an intelligent choir girl (Mena Sevauri), who is taken by
his willingness to sing just to get close to her.
The Jerry Lewis-like Jim may not just be interested in sex, but he has a predilection for its orgasmic innuendoes. In a triumphantly classic scene, Jim broadcasts his bedroom antics with a sexy foreign exchange student on the Internet. Only problem is that he is not aware this is being broadcast to the
whole high school community! Jim struts barechested while the voluptuous female gets aroused by a skin magazine, and all the immature high-schoolers howl with laughter.
"American Pie's" saving grace is that some of these kids are made to seem human, unlike the cardboard cartoon characters of "Animal House" or any other horny teen flick from the late 80's starring Corey Feldman. No, these kids are sweet and human and, uh, oh, sensitive! Jim's one line about how a nerdy, talkative band player (Alyson Hannigan) has something else to talk about
besides sex pretty much sums up the sensitivity factor. Naturally. it turns out she wants to use Jim because of his lusty, Net activity. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein and Mena Sevauri at least seem to come from the real world of teenagers, but the burning question remains: is there more to life in high school than sex? If you have seen "Election" or went to high school, you may be compelled
