Dinner and a Movie: 'American Reunion' is a Raunchy Romp Through Male Midlife

The kids are back, rediscovering their youth, now in their thirties in "American Reunion."

This is the fourth installment of the "American Pie" franchise, featuring pastry lover Jim (Jason Biggs), nice guy Oz (Chris Klein), and party animal Stifler (Seann William Scott). Each character is dealing with some sort of midlife crisis and relationship problem that builds up to an actually funny comedic payoff in the end.

The supporting cast of secondary characters helps this film bring humor to sexless marriages, rehashed high school flings and dead-end careers … or, as I like to say, comic gold. This may be the best film in the series since the original, which came out back in 1999. Serving as a reminder of lost youth, many of these characters work better as awkward adults than as teens. 

Most of the jokes, as you might expect, are a bit disgusting. If pooping in a cooler or having your genitals trapped in a laptop is your idea of humor, this movie is for you. The flick-o-meter gives "American Reunion" a three out of five. Gross-out humor is not my thing but I did laugh a few times.

Make sure to catch the closing credits.  You get to see current shots of each actor juxtaposed to what they looked like in 1999. They were all so, so young then, but then again, weren't we all?

Showtimes: "American Reunion" is playing at the at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Dinner: It doesn't get more American than Five Guys Burgers and Fries, where American cheese is, in fact, the only option. The guys now face stiff competition in town from gourmet fast-food chain Smashburger, but are holding their own with their big burgers and addictive fries. Beware the large portions: A small fries can easily satisfy two people.

Elk Grove Patch staff contributed to this story.

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