American Reunion: A Movie Review

"Growing up happens when you start having things to look back on..."

-Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

I don't usually do movie reviews. I'm not really a movie buff. Sure, I have a Netflix account and watch movies from time to time, but I've never really been one to have to rush out and see a movie. I'm usually that person that has never seen the movie that EVERYONE is talking about.

However, recently I went to see American Reunion, because I love the American Pie franchise (for several different reasons). One, I'll admit it, I love raunchy humor. Hey, at least I admit it. Also, as odd as it may sound for a movie franchise of this nature, I grew up with them.

I remember the summer of my senior year, going to see American Pie. Just like me, the cast was part of the class of 1999, ready to take on the world. They were going through the same things I was. They were finding out who they were, who others were, and starting to develop a curiosity about the opposite sex.

American Reunion, as it's name suggests, takes place as they all come back. And again, I can relate to what was going on at this point in their lives. I know how it feels to come back to a place and transcend back in time. Wishing that you were young again, but coming to the realization that that period in your life has come and gone. I know what it feels like to have a chance encounter with someone and for feelings that had come and gone to come back again. But much like in the movie, we all realize that the past is the past and although feelings may never change, circumstances do. And unfortunately sometimes we have to accept the fact that even though the feelings are there, lives are in different places.

One thing that stood out to me in this movie is when they went back to their old high school haunts. They questioned if the way kids acted had changed, or if they had just gotten older. I think that anyone has had to come to this realization as they experience the coming of age process. As much as we sometimes want and try to hang on to the way things were, we must come to accept that situations change...others change...and we change.

And like the characters in the movie, I didn't realize that I was growing up and that life was changing...it just happened one day. I think that one of the hardest parts of growing up is letting go of what was...and accepting what is to come.