I had my doubts about American Pie: The Wedding (just plain American Wedding in the US), whilst I loved the first film I found it’s sequel to be lacking. It lost the focus that the cherry popping storyline of the first film offered and many of the players seemed to be going through the motions. It felt like they were there out of contractual obligation rather than a love for the characters/material.

So, it is with some relief that I can say that American Pie: The Wedding is a damn funny film. It’s back to the winning formula of the first film. It boasts something for the characters to focus on (the wedding of the title) and the slimmed down cast (gone are Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Shannon Elizabeth and a couple of others) means that more time is given to the characters that we actually care about.

The missing cast members are not missed in the slightest, they really weren’t all that interesting and when more screen time is available to Seann William Scott’s Stiffler then who can complain? Stiffler is without a doubt the star of the show. He’s crass, arrogant, ignorant and rude, but he is far and away the character we end up liking the most.

The vast majority of the films laughs come from Stiffler. Whether it’s a crazy stunt, a rude gesture or just a cheeky look Stiffler is the films trump card. His best scenes involve a ‘dance off’ in a gay bar, a misunderstanding with a chocolate truffle and Stiffler looking after Granny. Scott is a top drawer physical comedic actor and he pulls out all the stops here to generate the laughs.

The rest of the cast are all good, slipping into their roles like a well worn pair of jeans. They have played these characters enough to drag out some effortless performances. Eugene Levy is of course a delight as Jim’s dad. Well meaning and loving, but nearly always putting his foot in it. Biggs and Hannigan make an appealing couple and Finch is Finch. The only returning cast member to disappoint is Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kev. He is hardly on screen, although he was never the most interesting of the characters.

As far as new cast members go I loved Fred Willard as Michelle’s dad. I also liked January Jones as Michelle’s sister. She is easy on the eye and provided a fitting prize for Finch and Stiffler to fight over. Eric Allan Kramer is also enjoyable as Bear, the man with whom Stiffler faces in the ‘dance off’. Special mention to the two strippers at the Bachelor Party, hubba-hubba….

Director Jesse Dylan keeps things moving along nicely fitting an awful lot into the films 102 minutes. The film is pretty much laugh out loud funny for the whole running time and it never slips into the dreaded last half hour laugh free zone that so many comedies suffer from. Writer Adam Hertz (who wrote all three AP’s) fills the film with plenty of gags and most work. Gross out is pretty much the order of the day, but I really appreciated the Bachelor Party, it plays out like farce and it is very cleverly put together.