American Pie

Essentially a '90s remake of Porky's Revenge and its sequels, American Pie (provisionally entitled Virgin Territory) is as smutty, juvenile and lowbrow as anything you'll ever see. Its saving grace is that it is, for the most part, hilarious and curiously charming.

The film is influenced by the John Hughes flicks of the early '80s, but less beholden to easy-option stereotyping.

The plot concerns a quartet of American high-school teenagers in their final school-year who make a collective pledge to lose their virginity in time for Prom night. Their various escapades are depicted in such gross detail that the casual viewer is not advised to eat beforehand.

While the characters concerned initially appear to be a mishmash of lazy stereotypes (meatheaded jock, awkward nerd, brainbox etc.) all of them emerge as rounded and complex individuals over the course of the film, and the girls are portrayed as sensitive human beings as opposed to walking vaginas.

The star of the show, without any shadow of a doubt, is a punter named Jim (Jason Biggs) who plays the most self-conscious member of the gang with such hilarious awkwardness that your heart would bleed for him, if your stomach wasn't doubled up in knots of laughter.

American Pie's testosterone level is obviously cranked up to full force, but it never threatens to become offensive or genuinely sexist, and the film has a remarkable emotional power considering the subject matter.

It goes without saying that the film is not exactly an artistic masterpiece, but anyone who enjoyed Something About Mary is urged to check this one out.