Grown Up and Married, Certainly, but Mature? Not by a Long Shot ‘American Reunion,’ With Jason Biggs and Eugene Levy 
 
 Believe it or not, there are teenagers in this great country who respond to intrinsically hilarious phrases like “band camp,” “Stifler’s Mom” and “Eugene Levy” with blank, uncomprehending stares. The arrival of “American Reunion” is no doubt partly intended to remedy this alarming cultural deficit and also to remind former teenagers of jokes that used to make them laugh. 
 
 Beyond that, this latest installment in the “American Pie” franchise — the fourth to be released in theaters and the first since “American Wedding,” way back in 2003 — asserts a claim of paternity, or at least big-brotherhood. You know all those raunchy, regressive comedies about a bunch of dudes driven to excessive partying by their hysterical fear of women and their panicky half-awareness of their own homoerotic impulses? (If you don’t, you must not see many movies.) Well, “American Pie” invented that whole thing! O.K., not really. Back when I was a teenager, there was “Porky’s,” but we can talk about that some other time. 
 
 Anyway. The high school buddies who defined, at the turn of the century, what it was to be “American” have grown older. (The original filmmakers, the screenwriter Adam Herz and the director Paul Weitz, have moved on, bequeathing the franchise to the “Harold & Kumar” auteurs, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.) 
 
 As their 13th reunion approaches, the five main male characters have settled into various versions of adulthood, except for Stifler (Seann William Scott), who still lives with his mom (Jennifer Coolidge) and still fits into his “Orgasm Donor” T-shirt, in spite of having bulked up a bit en route to his 30s. Oz (Chris Klein) is a semi-celebrity with a sports talk show on basic cable, a big house in Los Angeles and a hot young girlfriend (Katrina Bowden). Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) are still around. Finch has a motorcycle, and Kevin has a wife who likes reality television. Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are still married, though parenthood has put a damper on their famously torrid and inventive sex life. 
 
 If some of the parenthetical names in that paragraph make you nostalgic — or make you a little curious about what all those once-fresh young stars have been up to lately — here are some more. Back home in East Great Falls, Mich., for the big event, Kevin runs into his old flame Vicky (Tara Reid), and Oz runs into his first love, Heather (Mena Suvari). Ms. Suvari is notable for having appeared in two movies released in 1999 with “American” in the title. If you can’t remember the other one, count yourself lucky. 
 
 More faces from the old crew show up briefly (I won’t spoil any late-breaking cameos), and Mr. Levy once again steals the show with overexplicit (but unimpeachably sensible) parental advice. There’s a little new blood — or rather, new flesh — in the person of Ali Cobrin, playing Kara, a high school senior who throws herself at Jim, her former baby sitter. Her lust makes Jim uncomfortable, but her willingness to take off her clothes allows “American Reunion” to earn its R rating and to uphold the dreary tradition of aggressive leering followed by anxious, moralistic slut-shaming. 
 
 The sexual attitudes in this series have always been all over the map, a stew of lechery, revulsion, longing and sheer childish terror — and that’s just the guys. Female sexuality remains a source of confusion. Much as the boys slobber and gawk, nothing scares them more than a woman who actually seems to want to go to bed with one of them. 
 
 The “American Pie” series does, to its credit, allow some exceptions to this rule — Michelle’s happy, unapologetic lust in particular — and its nastiness has always been softened by Jim’s neurotic sweetness. In this movie an obnoxious youngster derisively calls him “Adam Sandler,” and the joke underscores an important contrast. Mr. Sandler characteristically turns his insecurity into aggression; he’s a bully pretending to be an underdog. But Mr. Biggs has always been willing to risk embarrassment, and to display vulnerability, ambivalence and decency, as well as his backside and his privates. 
 
 Like many real-world gatherings of former high school classmates, “American Reunion” is sometimes awkward and uncomfortable, caught between nostalgia for the old days and relief that they are gone forever. It has some good moments, but it goes on too long, and not enough happens that is likely to create new memories. Remember “American Pie”? If you do, this movie is redundant and sad. If you don’t, it’s irrelevant. 
 
 “American Reunion” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Stifler’s Mom. Band camp. Eugene Levy. 
 
 American Reunion 
 
 Opens on Friday nationwide. 
 
 Written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, based on characters created by Adam Herz; director of photography, Daryn Okada; edited by Jeff Betancourt; music by Lyle Workman; production design by William Arnold; costumes by Mona May; produced by Craig Perry, Warren Zide and Chris Moore; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes . 
 
 WITH: Jason Biggs (Jim), Alyson Hannigan (Michelle), Chris Klein (Oz), Thomas Ian Nicholas (Kevin), Tara Reid (Vicky), Seann William Scott (Stifler), Mena Suvari (Heather), Eddie Kaye Thomas (Finch), Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler’s Mom), Ali Cobrin (Kara), Katrina Bowden (Mia) and Eugene Levy (Jim’s Dad). ||||| Sweeping aside the film's weirdest unasked question — who goes to their 13th high school reunion? — the characters created by Adam Herz for the 1999 hit "American Pie" return for a rather tired sequel called "American Reunion," in which poor, desperate Jim Levenstein's genitals once again get their ears boxed (metaphorically speaking), and Stifler's way with nubile 17-year-olds doesn't seem quite as obnoxiously sprightly as it once did, given that Stifler is now supposed to be in his early 30s and the actor, Seann William Scott, is 35. 
 
 The movie acknowledges this queasy disconnect, though acknowledging it doesn't make it much funnier. Everyone in the ensemble keeps pushing the woebegone nostalgia angle, pining for lost youth, eager to reactivate now-dormant sex lives. Every other line, it seems, refers to "back in the day" or "wasn't this more fun when we were younger?" or how "old" they're feeling. You'd think this was a remake of "Cocoon." 
 
 "American Pie," and the better parts of the second one, proved that the right combination of hard-R-rated raunch and occasional sincerity was golden. Those films were followed by "American Wedding" and four direct-to-DVD spinoffs. 
 
 The through-line linking all eight, including "American Reunion," has been Eugene Levy as Noah Levenstein, now a widower, still dispensing awkward advice to his son, played by Jason Biggs. 
 
 The plot you know, even if you don't. The East Great Falls, Mich., reunion weekend brings together Jim, Stifler, haute poseur Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas, adroitly treading the line between "deadpan" and "bored"), sportscaster Oz (Chris Klein) and the other guy, Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), now bearded and married. Jim and his band-camp-derived wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) have fallen into a nonsexual rut since the birth of their son. The opening scene in the sequel from writers-directors and "Harold & Kumar" alums Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg presents dueling-masturbation scenarios under the same exhausted-spouse roof. 
 
 Now and then the movie rouses itself to deliver. If you go to "American Reunion" — and many will, if they harbor fond memories of the first one, and if they can find a sitter — you should stay through the end credits. Levy and Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's mom) are on a date at a movie theater, and while the ensuing joke is as old as time, the way Levy finesses it you wonder if the "American Pie" franchise would've gotten half as far as it has without him. 
 
 For the record, the movie's cinematography and editing are pure hack work, drab and jumpy and jammed with full-face close-ups. Not good for comedy. Next stop: "American Time-Share." 
 
 mjphillips@tribune.com 
 
 'American Reunion' -- 2 stars 
 
 MPAA rating: R (for crude and sexual content throughout, nudity, language, brief drug use and teen drinking) 
 
 Running time: 1:53 
 
 Opens: Friday
– The latest installment in the American Pie franchise brings back Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott—but it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's the same story of sexual anxiety, but this time with thirty-somethings. "Remember American Pie? If you do, this movie is redundant and sad. If you don’t, it’s irrelevant," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "Everyone in the ensemble keeps pushing the woebegone nostalgia angle, pining for lost youth, eager to reactivate now-dormant sex lives," writes Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. "Every other line, it seems, refers to 'back in the day' or 'wasn't this more fun when we were younger?'" Make it stop, begs Tom Long in the Detroit News. "The great fear here is that things are heading toward American 40th, American Retirement, and American Senility, all of which will rotate around Jim's sex problems." In short, Reunion should be the last slice of Pie. But in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers is glad to see some familiar faces. "No need to worry that these Peter Pans actually grow up. American Reunion is dedicated to the proposition that no matter how old you get, you can stay immature forever."