Almost 10 years after the last American Pie movie, the original cast is back for their high school reunion, 13 years after graduating – and all the characters have grown up.

Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) & Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are still married and are now parents to a two year old boy. Their sex life, however, is in a rut and they’re trying to rekindle their romance.

Oz (Chris Klein) is now a hotshot famous sports anchor, dating a model who’s too out there for his taste. And he hasn’t gotten over his first love Heather (Mena Suvari).

Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is now a work-from-home architect, married to a woman named Ellie. At the reunion, he’ll be tormented by feelings for his first love Vicky (Tara Reid).

Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas) is supposedly a man going on worldwide adventures – from Europe to South America, via Dubai and China.

On the other hand, Steven Stiffler (Seann William Scott) hasn’t done much growing up in the past 13 years. Stifmeister is still as is.

As the original characters go back to East Great Falls, they’re struck by how things have changed, and somehow how so much is still the same. The kid Jim used to babysit is now a young flirtatious woman trying to find the right man to lose her virginity to. The jocks are still jerks. In a way things are very similar to how they were – there’s one catch: they have grown up.

The opening scene sets the tone. American Reunion is hilarious. Yes, it’s cheap comedy. Yes, it uses sex to make you laugh. Yes, it’s inappropriate at times. But you just can’t stop laughing during that movie. Call it lame, call it useless, call it a silly relaunching of a franchise, it still does what American Pie does best: deliver a raunchy comedy.

The best thing about American Reunion is that it doesn’t straddle the lines of sentimentality as some franchises tend to do after a long absence. Instead, it keeps going at you with the same formula that made the first three movies successful: sex jokes, raunchy attitudes, lude behavior, nudity, awkward parent-son conversations. It is formulaic in a way, but no one expected it to be otherwise. Some of the jokes may have been done before, such as Jim’s masturbating scenes and talks with his father that divulge way too much information – you know such scenes are coming but you can’t help but laughing when they do.

How I Met Your Mother fans will be happy with a cameo appearance by Neil Patrick Harris. Fans of the “Stiffler’s mom” storyline won’t be disappointed as well, as Jennifer Coolidge makes an appearance. Many secondary characters are also given their own moments to keep you entertained.

People change, priorities get reshuffled, relationships get rearranged – but American Reunion sets to show that true friendship stays. And for one weekend, those friends will say “the hell with growing up” and have the time of their life, one last time. If you’re a fan of the first three movies, then American Reunion is definitely for you. Even if you haven’t watched any of the first American Pie movies, you won’t go into this not getting what it’s about. The characters that were desperately trying to lose their virginity 13 years ago have come a long way, and yet in a way have gone nowhere at all. This is one reunion worth attending.

7/10