American Pie acknowledges a cold, hard fact that most movies don't: it is exceedingly difficult to get laid. Its four virgin heroes are Jim (Jason Biggs), a chronic masturbator; Kev (Thomas Ian Nicholas), who desperately wants to deflower his girlfriend (Tara Reid); Oz (Chris Klein), a lacrosse player whose approach requires some fine tuning; and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), a germophobe (his crass nickname is hilarious, but I won't spoil it here) who pays a classmate to spread rumours about the size of his member.

They attend a high school in suburban Michigan full of so many impossibly beautiful women that, hormone-addled teenagers or not, it's no wonder our foursome is horny all the time. After an otherwise wild party at their studly friend Stifler's (Seann William Scott, in the film's sharpest performance) house leaves them sexually unsatisfied, Jim, Kev, Oz, and Finch make a pact to "lose it" by graduation--specifically, prom night, which is only a few weeks away.

What differentiates American Pie from those dirty eighties comedies, aside from a very nineties obsession with bodily fluids, is a cast that's light years more appealing than that of, say, Just One of the Guys. Two more standouts: Klein and "SCTV"'s Eugene Levy; Klein plays a kind-hearted athlete for the second time in a row, after Alexander Payne's underappreciated Election from earlier this summer. I hope to see more of this warm actor with the disarmingly honest face very soon. Levy's is the most crowd-pleasing performance, and indeed, it's nice to see him back on the screen in a role that makes wonderful use of that expressive brow.

American Pie also wants to emulate the teen flicks your parents would let you watch growing up. It skillfully employs a broad mix of pop tunes, much like John Hughes' movies did, going so far as to pay a couple of homages to The Breakfast Club, most evidently when the prom band covers Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)." The picture ultimately has a healthy, if obligatory, attitude towards safe sex--even at their most libidinous, American Pie's protagonists first whip out a condom. If nothing else, the filmmakers prove that socially responsible raunch is possible. For its familiarity and for its charming leads, I recommend American Pie, but the buzz on this film had me expecting something...oven-fresh. As far as the New Teen Cinema goes, it's at the top of a rank heap.-Bill Chambers