Lifting the ‘raunchy’ lever up a notch, American Wedding writer Adam Herz pens as many embarrassing scenarios for his young and horny characters to panic in as the film’s running-time permits. For this third and, assumingly, final installment of the American Pie films, Herz imagines some of the funniest situations since curious high-school senior Jim Levinstein (Jason Biggs) first made love to an apple-pie in 1999. But when these situations, all way too coincidental for their own good, begin popping up every 10-minutes, the gags start to decrease in value.

Gag excesses aside, American Wedding is a fitting conclusion to the Pie trilogy; the younger generation’s version of Porky’s. With the Farrelly brothers taming their movies as of late, gross-out comedies are barely released nowadays. Thankfully American Wedding makes up for lost time. If there is one element this movie lacks, it is definitely not gross-out humor.

Jim is getting married to his college sweetheart, geeky band camp member Michelle Flaherty (Allison Hannigan), the girl who took his virginity in the first film. Most of Jim’s friends have returned to help the groom with his wedding arrangements. Most importantly, excessive curser Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) is back, and more vulgar than before.

The question that remained in my mind throughout was, what in the hell happened to the character of Stifler. He somehow mutated into an overly stimulated 12-year old brat on a constant sugar binge. Stifler certainly was obnoxious and crude in the previous Pie movies, but he was also normal and, to a certain extent, suave. He never made retarded facial expressions in every frame, like some second-rate Ace Ventura. Either director Jesse Dylan never bothered watching American Pie, or Seann William Scott snorted grams upon grams of cocaine between each take. Probably both.

Jesse Dylan has a knack for directing visual humor. Dylan’s talent was evident in his first venture behind the camera, How High, the Redman/Method Man stoner-comedy. In Wedding, the director has more than enough material to work with. One of the funniest and most visually complex sequences is the bachelor party at Jim’s house. As strippers entertain Stifler and the guys, who assume Jim’s house will remain vacant for the night, Jim is scheduled to have an in-home dinner with Michelle’s parents (played by Deborah Rush and Fred Willard). You can imagine where the scene goes from there.

American Wedding could have benefited from some its predecessor’s slight romantic tones, but in a movie where a character like Stifler can find love, that is romantic enough for me.