American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Admirable film.

The start of what was soon to come, many non-related spin-offs to the cult classic American Pie begins with Band Camp. I think this would have been much better if the original cast reprised their roles. Having new actors feels a tiny bit out of place, but still, one can sort of feel the vague vibes of urgency and nostalgia from the original Pie trilogy.This one revolves around Matt Stifler (Hilgenbrinck), who I will admit, has quite a resemblance to Sean William Scott (the previous Steve Stifler). When Matt ruins the band's performance by pepper spraying their instruments, one of the few returning castmates Chris Owen (The Sherminator), now the Guidance Counselor, sends Matt to "Band Camp." Matt then hears from a friend that there happens to be a lot of "sex" at Band Camp. He buys over $1,000 in spy technology to put in peoples' rooms, showers, and wherever girls lurk so he can turn his voyeuristic videos into a movie entitled "Bandeez Gone Wild".Why is he doing this? So he can join the family business of making exploitation films so he can prove to his older brother that he is "The Stif-meister." Along the way he meets a girl he hasn't spoken to in about four years, Elyse Houston (Kebbel). He hides the fact he likes her to avoid being made fun of and continuously tries to impress her in the weirdest of ways.He is a different person around friends. Around friends he is calm, cool, and collective. But around girls he is "The Stif-meister," according to Elyse.Eugene Levy has a few scenes in Band Camp that assist in bringing back the vibes of the original trilogy. Normally, I'd view it as a desperate plea of a sequel to only have one original cast member return and have a few others occupy the names of original characters, but it seems as if we are taking a step in a completely different direction. A direction that features shameless nudity, gross-out humor, and ridiculous setups in order to capitalize and make money off of the original Pie films. Technically, with a few name changes, these spinoffs could easily extract the "American Pie Presents" from the title and just call themselves by their secondary name. Band Camp is close to the spirit of the original films, but lacks the heart and wit that the original series bathed in. It wasn't all about sex, but about characterization and morals. The trilogy wasn't mean-spirited, as much as it was cheery, welcoming, and sometimes, even heartwarming. The characters here are more like caricatures inhabiting the bodies of inferior people we are supposed to believe are related to one person from movies past. I guess the spirits were a bit indecisive.Starring: Tad Hilgenbrinck, Arielle Kebbel, Eugene Levy, Chris Owen, Tara Killian, Terrick Johnson, and Jason Earles. Directed by: Steve Rash.

The Pre-discovery that the only remaining member of the original cast was Eugiene Levy aka 'jims dad' and Chris Owen 'sherman' (Who was probably just offered a half decent prostitute to take the role in the movie). This hardly filled me with excitement. But after creating a successful formula in the previous 3 films which provided some classic comedy moments I thought I'd give it a go. I am now a sufferer of parkinsonsotourettaphlemic-lepracyschizophrenic disorder which was a term invented using videoconferencing by top International doctors shortly after I was taken into long term care. The writers tried to emulate the original characters to the point where they may as well have used a cardboard cut out of Sean William Scott (stiffler) on the set, this would have provided better acting skills. The so-called classic comedy scenes were as funny as hypothermia. I think I almost managed a chuckle once.... by almost I mean swallowing the sick that emerged in my mouth. There was more cheese on display than a Babybel factory in this movie with the majority of the 'makeshift' characters being as flat as Pint left out in the sun for 4 days gathering algae.While spending the year in hospital after the movie I was placed next to a 14 year old who was offered a selection of DVD's. To my complete and utterly disgusted but silenced disbelief (when your so scared you cant scream)...He chose Band camp. As there was a bout of Meningitis injections on the ward, I thought the only way out was to take advantage of the many needles left available on the trolley. After 20 inside I was motionless and looking like a hedgehog, paralysed but still able to hear the poor, squeaky voiced, over excited dialogue from the majority of the movie. I advise anyone who watches it to please apply to Steve Rash for the 94 minutes of your life back. Its utter tripe, maybe a fly's discharge sat on top of a dog log would be the closest rival above it. I opted for Meningitis but I think a air bubble in the veins would be more advisable than watching this movie. Eye bleedingly poor.

I'm not a big fan of spin-offs, but this movie actually wasn't that bad compared to the 2 other spin-offs of American Pie just recently made (Naked Mile & Beta House).This movie was okay because it still kept a general sense of what the original American Pie was about, and even though it was Stifler's little brother, it still felt a lot Sean William Scott when you're watching him. I also like the fact that this one is clean enough to be edited down and shown on TV unlike any other American Pie movie so far.This movie also has a better ending than any other American Pie movie I've seen because Stifler actually learned a lesson and changed his attitude/behavior it felt somewhat nicer for me to see a happy ending rather than a big party scene at the end of every movie.All in all, my favorite from the spin-offs so far. i recommend it to anyone, who's ever gone to band camp or plays in a band, and who likes American pie.Oh and by the way, "This one time, at band camp, my sister whacked me in the head with her clarinet."

Sequels are funny thing in the business, however one can tell when a movie franchise got past it's prime and it's now featured in direct-to-video sequels. I normally don't dwell into this world, but I decided to give it a shot. American Pie: Band Camp is a weak attempt at comedy, it only hurts itself by having some of the original characters from the earlier movies. Stiffler's younger brothers gets sent to band camp after messing up a rehearsal, but tries to make smutty hidden camera videos from the band camp members. I barely laughed at the film, was only grossed out by a few scenes(which have become mandatory in teen comedies), but one does wonder how weak this looks compared to Superbad which honestly relies more on dialog to get it's point across. Also Stiffler's brother's cursing doesn't work anymore, Sean William Scott(the true hero of American Wedding) already squeeze the last of the American Pie funny bone juice out of this franchise. The actors make it clear that this is a direct-to-video release and I'm surprised Eugene Levy and Timothy Stack would even bother to show up on a movie, did Levy appear just tell us that this is an American Pie movie? Never mind, if you like teen comedies, don't bother. It's not worth the rental.