American Pie Presents: Band Camp DVD Review:

With his brother been a legend during his senior year, Matt Stifler (Hilgenbrinck) will have to do something really memorable for everyone to forget about Steve. When his first prank goes wrong, school councillor Chuck Sherman (Owen) tells him that he has one chance to save his senior year, by getting to know the people that were the butt of his joke. Matt Stifler is going to Band Camp.

After three hit movies, the ‘American Pie’ franchise was bound to spawn a spin-off series but can this direct to DVD movie capture that all American spirit?

The ‘American Pie’ movies set a new tone when it came to teenage, gross-out comedies but with only two of the original cast returning for this spin-off, can a movie about the Stifler’s younger brother be the same as the misadventures of Jim, Kevin, Finch and Steve Stifler? The answer is an unfortunate no.

Matt Stifler is a carbon copy of this older brother with all the same mannerisms, compulsive swearing and put downs that Seann William Scott made famous. Now this can be expected from a character that supposed to idolise his brother but for the viewer it becomes instantly annoying. Tad Hilgenbrinck makes his big screen debut in the role and he doesn’t do a bad job. He does look uncannily like William Scott and pulls off a very good impression of the character. The script doesn’t do him any favours however, giving him no real opportunity to stamp his own style on this very defined role.

The film sticks to the American Pie formula but the Matt Stifler character also has to become a combination of Steve Stifler and Jim Levenstein. For all of the Stifler crudity you also get Jim’s uncanny ability to get himself into some extremely embarrassing situations. This amalgamation of characters is supposed to make Matt Stifler more watchable but it just makes you think of the characters he has been influenced by.

The rest of the cast are fine but none of them assert themselves into your consciousness, making none them truly memorable. The standouts are Arielle Kebbel as Elyse, the head of the high school’s band and the former best friend of Matt and Crystle Lightning as Chloe, who makes a very memorable impression but not for her acting. There are also small supporting roles for American Pie veterans Chris Owen as Chuck “The Sherminator” Sherman and the immortal Eugene Levy as Jim’s Dad.

‘American Pie Presents: Band Camp’ tries to capture the formula that made the original trilogy such a success but doesn’t quite make it. There are some amusing moments in the film and the characters are watchable, but there are no hilarious scenes that will stick in the mind. Let’s hope the franchise returns to the original characters to make the next slice of American Pie a bit more palatable.

Star Rating = * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Outtakes (4.16 mins)
Watch as newcomer Tad Hilgenbrinck and the rest of the cast make a hash of their lines

Deleted Scenes (11.50 mins)
Twenty deleted scenes that reveal that Eugene Levy’s character had more screen time and we see more of the characters making out. Unfortunately there is no commentary track or introduction to reveal why these scenes were removed.

Band Camp Dirty Diary (17.23 mins)
Stars Arielle Kebbel and Tad Hilgenbrinck keep video diary for the duration of the films production. With contributions from Jun Hee Lee, Chris Owen, Omar Benson Miller, Dosset March, Jason Earles, Crystle Lightening, Rachel Veltri, Matt Barr, Ginger Lynn Allen and writer Brad Riddell, the pair take you behind the scenes showing you the Tall Oaks set, the trailers, the outtakes and the embarrassing sex scenes, all of which is intermixed with explanation of Stifler’s insults.

Band Camp Dirty Secret (Set Tour) (5.35 mins)
Camp councillors Rachel Veltri and Angela Little take you on a tour of the Tall Oaks set, in their own sexy style.

Secret Rover Cam Footage (14.39 mins)
Ernie’s robotic rover takes some candid footage of Brandon and his stalker Claire, Jimmy Chong working on his game, Claire learning to be cool, freshman hazing and some revealing conversations by the cheerleader. This is funny supplementary material that fans should enjoy.

Baby Got Back Music Video
The camp councillors provide their own dance style for this very energetic music video from Tall Oaks Band Camp.

OVERALL

For a direct to DVD release the bonus features are good. The lack of a commentary track is a shame but the Secret Rover Cam Footage, Diary and Tour more than make up for this. American Pie fans should be pleased with the DVD extras, it is just a shame that the film isn’t up to the same standard.



Jamie Kelwick