For better or worse, we probably won't see a phenomenon like American Pie again. One reason is financial. The four American Pie films took in a combined gross of roughly a billion dollars, and spawned a series of four direct-to-video atrocities that further padded the franchise's bottom line. Released in 1999, American Pie was made for a mere $11 million and returned an international gross of almost a quarter billion dollars. In this era of mammoth blockbusters complimented by the rare festival circuit darling, the mid-budget studio film that makes good is largely a thing of the past.
Not only is American Pie a relic of a bygone era in terms of financing, but it is also of a genre that may be lost to time. The raunchy sex comedy saw its heyday in the '80s with films like Meatballs, Porkys, and Revenge of the Nerds. Though these movies defined the comedic sensibilities of a generation, they don't age well. These films tend to read today as only kind of funny and very sexist. The late '90s and early aughts saw a resurgence of raunchy teen fare that has endured a bit better and offered a slight improvement in their depiction of women. Since then, we've turned away from the sex comedy. The box office successors to American Pie have leaned in other directions. Superbad relies on embarrassment rather than raunch. The Hangover is more about drunken adventure than sexual escapades. Today, in an era where women are finally starting to consistently headline comedies and the Internet offers a steady and vital critique of the "boys will be boys" attitude, American Pie and its peers feel like what they are, antiquated artifacts from a different time.
It would be easy to write about all of the problematic moments in the American Pie series, and some moments are so egregious that you can't talk about the scenes around them without addressing the elephants in the room. Despite these less than tasteful moments, it is worth remembering the comedic triumphs of the series. The elegantly choreographed grossness of the series' best physical comedy hasn't been matched since. There is a strain of youthful, devil-may-care comedy in these films that isn't common today, and in the series' best moments, hasn't been done better. Let's reach back to the heyday of Blink-182 and bucket hats and remember All of the Embarrassing Sex Moments in the American Pie Movies, Ranked.