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A fresh slice of stale pie

What began in 1999 as the Porky’s for hormonal millennials has made it to 2012 as The Big Chill for aging horn dogs.
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What if you got the old American Pie gang back together for a movie reunion

American Reunion

2 1/2 stars (out of 4)

Rated: 14A

What began in 1999 as the Porky’s for hormonal millennials has made it to 2012 as The Big Chill for aging horn dogs.

And American Reunion, remarkably, might just be the funniest issue yet from the American Pie factory.

Which isn’t saying all that much, given the low standards in this continuing sex farce. But few comedies run this far without wheezing into irrelevancy. This one still resonates, while also still proudly waving the “R” flag that was once a rarity for movie ribaldry, now more the norm.

Somewhere along the assembly line that includes two previous sequels and four direct-to-DVD spinoffs, fumbling Jim (Jason Biggs), mellow jock Oz (Chris Klein), hipster Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), weird Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), wired Stifler (Seann William Scott) and their female counterparts managed to make themselves almost endearing.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’ve aged along with everybody else and gone through similar life ups and downs. Theirs is the comedy of universal awkwardness, at all stages of life.

The devious pact by the five lads to lose their virginity at prom in American Pie has become, 13 years later in American Reunion, a desperate pitch to rekindle stalled libidos at a high school reconvening.

Jim and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), married in 2003’s American Wedding, now have a 2-year-old son and a sex life they each practise solo: Jim with computer porn and a tube sock; Michelle with her imagination and a handy shower attachment.

In Jim’s case, this was the predicament he was in back in ‘99, when Internet sex was a novelty — and so was the Internet. Co-directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, series newcomers who also share the pen, smoothly play on old gags and catchphrases, giving each one a new twist.

If Jim and Michelle are in a rut, they at least have plenty of company down there (bad pun intended): Kevin is hirsute and hen-pecked; Oz talks sports and squires a Barbie; Finch travels the world solo; and a frustrated Stifler punches the clock as the temp.

The girls in this Gen X gaggle — who include Mena Suvari’s Heather, Tara Reid’s Vicky and Shannon Elizabeth’s Nadia — don’t seem to be all that keen about their life choices and outcomes, either.

The only people in the American Pie gang who seem relatively unchanged are Stifler’s libidinous mom (Jennifer Coolidge) and Jim’s uncomfortably honest dad (Eugene Levy).

American Reunion manages to get the major original cast member back, and a couple of new ones: Ali Cobrin plays Kara, a distraction for Jim, and Dania Ramirez is Selena, a band-camp ugly duckling suddenly grown to a swan, who befriends Michelle.

The co-directors also have some fun with John Cho, who had a tiny part as one of two “MILF guys” in American Pie, but whom they’ve since helped propel to stardom as the Asian half of Harold & Kumar.

What American Reunion doesn’t do, even at a ponderous 112 minutes, is go much past rehashing the same old gags as American Pie, which is required viewing for newcomers who want to really appreciate the many in-jokes.

It’s okay, though, because this troupe has earned our loyalty, and also our sympathy regarding the many indignities of aging. It’s especially amusing to see them coping with YouTube, Facebook, iPhones and other digital distractions that have redefined human relations. A lot has changed since these former teens were watching Jim and Nadia romp via a single webcam.

Fuller of face and figure, they’re all painfully and poignantly aware of the passage of time — with the singular exception of Stifler, who gets his comeuppance in the gross-out department.

They say familiarity breeds contempt, but with American Reunion, it’s more like familiarity breeds contentment.

Bonus prize for baby boomers: watch as a character from a classic ’80s comedy shows up to deliver a well-timed reprise of a famous line. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Peter Howell is a syndicated movie critic for The Toronto Star.