American Pie

The shape of American Pie was decided by a ratings board. Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz’s 1999 film first came back NC-17 and only reached an R after cuts. Jason Biggs has described the negotiation coming down to how many thrusts the pie scene contained: two was an R, three was an NC-17. The humiliation comedy here was not written freely, it was calibrated frame by frame against what a committee would pass. Adam Herz sent the script to studios under the title Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under Ten Million Dollars That Most Readers Will Probably Hate But I Think You Will Love. The economics turned out better than that self deprecation promised: eleven million dollars spent, over two hundred and thirty five million taken worldwide. Set in Michigan, it was shot in Southern California, mostly around Long Beach. One practical note before you queue it up, the version circulating at home is usually not the theatrical R but the unrated cut put out in December 1999. A good fit if watching a comedy engineered right up against a censor’s line, joke by measured joke, holds your interest. Not a fit if humour built by making the girls the target is a structure you cannot sit through.