American Pie 2 (Rated Collector's Edition-Full Frame-Dts) (2001)

Entertainment Weekly
"...A surprisingly poignant postadolescent coup..." 01/11/2002 p.54

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
This may seem crushingly obvious, but here goes: The problem with a sequel like "American Pie 2" is that it's about the same characters, and the elements of surprise and discovery are gone. In the first movie, Stifler's mom appeared unexpectedly like a gift from above. In this movie, she has become a standing joke (except to Stifler). In the first movie, Jim didn't know that he and Nadia were making love in streaming video on the Internet. In this one, there's a sequence where strangers pick up a sex scene on their CB radios, and we're thinking: this year's version of Internet broadcast...That said, I had a good time at "American Pie 2," maybe because the characters are broad comic types, well played; the movie feels some sympathy for their dilemmas, and because it's obsessed with sex...One nice thing about the movie is that the girls are portrayed as equal opportunity predators, and not simply as objectified sex objects...I laughed at "American Pie 2," yes, but this is either going to be the last "Pie" movie or they're going to have to get a new angle. I'd hate to see the freshness of the series grind down into the repetition of the same formula to wring a few more dollars out of the brand name. One hopeful sign that the filmmakers can learn and grow is that the sequel does not contain a single pie, if you know what I mean. - Roger Ebert
 
The New York Times 7 of 10
The American Pie movies succeed where many other comedies aimed at the youth market falter: they manage to be both lewd and sweet, exploiting the natural prurience of young people while implicitly comforting their raging anxieties... - A.O. Scott
 
ReelViews 6 of 10
In the case of American Pie, more is less. As in less funny, less sexy, and much, much less enjoyable. This sequel, like so many that have preceded it this year, exists exclusively because its forerunner made a lot of money - and the lack of inspiration behind the movie shows in every frame. Desperation permeates the production - a desperation to match the outrageousness, hilarity, and vulgarity of the first American Pie. Only in the third category does it come close. Everything about this picture is flat - the performances, the direction, the screenplay, the "comic" sequences, and the energy level. Yet, as big a dud as the movie is, it will doubtlessly be a huge hit, because the movie-going public no longer seems to care about film quality, as long as they see a few familiar faces. Two years from now, we'll probably be watching American Pie 3...Although the movies are entirely different, watching American Pie 2 offers a similar experience to that of sitting through Scary Movie 2. You can see all the seams in the movie, and sense how frantic the filmmakers were to replicate their previous success. But, when a motion picture is the result of a financial impulse, not a creative one, this is often the unfortunate result. - James Berardinelli