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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 58 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    In addition to being extremely funny, the film has a warm spirit and respect for the characters. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Unusual in its ability to mix bodily functions humor with a sincere and unlooked-for sense of decency. Read full review

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    Exceptionally funny, unexpectedly tender, and lewder than a teenage boy's dreams. Read full review

  • 75
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    The presence of "Election's" Chris Klein as the male contingent's most sensitive member only emphasizes how much smarter that high school comedy was. Read full review

  • 75
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    The successful bits, along with an amiable cast of losers and their prom-night prey, make American Pie a winner. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    A lively, disposable hybrid of the sincere and the synthetic. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    It is not inspired, but it's cheerful and hard-working and sometimes funny, and--here's the important thing--it's not mean. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Cheesy homage to a level of horniness Austin Powers could only imagine will be a dream movie for many a teenage boy. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Among this year's bumper crop of shallow teen-age movies, it is the shallowest and the most prurient. Read full review

  • 25
    Boston Globe |

    Gross and tasteless...this high-school romp mixes the gross and tasteless with sentimental mush. Read full review

View more reviews for American Pie on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Ultra-raunchy sex comedy is a teen fave -- beware.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that teens talk about having sex explicitly in this film. Girls and boys masturbate, as well as give and get oral sex. There's discussion and depiction of premature ejaculation and faking orgasm, and boys talk about lying to girls to get them to sleep with them. And mostly, teens try to find out about sex without talking to their parents. This is a case where it would be good to watch the film ahead of teens, all of whom know about the series and probably want to watch it.
  • Families can talk about what teens think of sex, how many of their friends they think are having sex, and what parents think of teens having sex. It's also a good opportunity for parents to answer whatever questions teens may have, both about values surrounding sex and about safe sex.
  • Parents may also want to put an over-the-top comedy like this in perspective. The antics of these sex-crazed teens come at you fast and furiously, making some of the laughs mostly about the shock value. What other movies and TV shows reach for a laugh this way? (Jackass and South Park are a good start to the list.)
  • Do you think some teens will feel pressured about sex before they're ready by watching a movie like American Pie? Or do you think it's just a funny situation comedy?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Guys lie to each other and to girls to get them to have sex. Jim secretly records a girl changing her clothes and then masturbating to pornography without her permission or knowledge and broadcasts it to everyone in school. Finch pays a girl to lie about how good he is in bed and give him a good reputation.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Lacrosse player Oz joins the jazz choir to meet a girl, but ends up showing he sincerely cares when he leaves a lacrosse championship to perform a duet with her in a choir competition.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Not an issue
  • sex false5 Sex: Lots of raunchy sexual discussion as well as sexual behavior, including viewing a porno, masturbation, boys and girls giving and getting oral sex, taping a girl (without her knowledge) who's changing and masturbating, and, of course, having sex with a pie. In the end, several couples have sex, including one mother and a teenage boy.
  • language false5 Language: Lots of profane and explicit sexual language, including "f--k," "giving head," and "p---y," as well as "b---hes, "s--thead," and "damn."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lots of teen drinking, including beer, shots, and drinking in the morning. Stifler's mom smokes.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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