Well, very nearly....
Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) makes an appearance as does the Sherminator, but they are far from the main stars. At the same time, they also, by simple virtue of their connection to the earlier movies, outshine the newcomers.
Not that any of the new cast are lousy but, and this is a big but, none of them stamp their authority on the franchise either.
Now, franchises are categorised by two things, continuing situations and continuing cast members. The situations here are not unfamiliar, but most of the cast is. This leaves you, at least at first, trying to figure out the character dynamics. Fortunately, its not hard, since little imagination has gone into this "effort".
Stiffler magically acquires a younger brother, that forms the main character of the film. To be fair, Tad Hilgenbrink does a pretty good Stiffler impression, but that's where the problem lies. He is so much like The Stiffler, that its difficult not to look at the situations and dialogue and think...this story was written for Sean William Scott.
Overall, the film is a sub-par rehash of the kind of comedy that made American Pie good. The fact that none of the major stars of the original are onboard again just kind of makes me think that it wasn't good enough. Maybe this was a script too far. Of course, the original actors are all too old to convincingly play the characters they once were. But as American Wedding showed, the franchise can evolve beyond the school years, given a sufficient driving force.
Anyway, Band Camp is easily the weakest of the Pie films to date and will do absolutely nothing to keep the franchise going. And perhaps, if this clumsy rehash of ideas is anything to go by, its a franchise that should be allowed to fade away.
Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) makes an appearance as does the Sherminator, but they are far from the main stars. At the same time, they also, by simple virtue of their connection to the earlier movies, outshine the newcomers.
Not that any of the new cast are lousy but, and this is a big but, none of them stamp their authority on the franchise either.
Now, franchises are categorised by two things, continuing situations and continuing cast members. The situations here are not unfamiliar, but most of the cast is. This leaves you, at least at first, trying to figure out the character dynamics. Fortunately, its not hard, since little imagination has gone into this "effort".
Stiffler magically acquires a younger brother, that forms the main character of the film. To be fair, Tad Hilgenbrink does a pretty good Stiffler impression, but that's where the problem lies. He is so much like The Stiffler, that its difficult not to look at the situations and dialogue and think...this story was written for Sean William Scott.
Overall, the film is a sub-par rehash of the kind of comedy that made American Pie good. The fact that none of the major stars of the original are onboard again just kind of makes me think that it wasn't good enough. Maybe this was a script too far. Of course, the original actors are all too old to convincingly play the characters they once were. But as American Wedding showed, the franchise can evolve beyond the school years, given a sufficient driving force.
Anyway, Band Camp is easily the weakest of the Pie films to date and will do absolutely nothing to keep the franchise going. And perhaps, if this clumsy rehash of ideas is anything to go by, its a franchise that should be allowed to fade away.