American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules is a 2020 teen sex comedy film that is a part of the American Pie franchise. Directed by Mike Elliott, this direct-to-video film is the ninth of the series, and the first which centers around female characters. Almost 20 years after the original American Pie film, this continuation seeks to modernize the series by focusing on a younger female demographic with four teen girls who make a pact to seize control of their love lives and ‘rule’ them before graduation.
Empowering girls is a great concept, especially in a film that seeks to challenge the status quo of the American Pie series. Striking a balance between comedy and female empowerment doesn’t work, leaving viewers feeling like the film has the potential of a progressive reboot, but has failed to deliver.
Plot Summary
The film takes place in an imaginary East Great Falls High School, which is the same place as the first movies of the series. The four protagonist girls who are now seniors in high school are Annie, Kayla, Michelle, and Stephanie. Annie, Kayla, and Michelle have been bestfriends since childhood, and are now looking forward to make the most of their last year before moving on to college.
Feeling unfulfilled and frustrated by the absence of romantic encounters, the girls make a deal with each other: to take control of their lives and obtain what they desire, whether that is love, sex, or increased self-confidence. Similar to the original American Pie boys, they make a commitment to exploring relationships and not waiting passively for life to come to them.
Annie, the sweet and awkward “girl next door,” has a crush on a popular boy called Grant who seems to like her but often sends mixed signals. Kayla is brash, impulsive, and has just ended a relationship, yet is drawn to a now-ex boyfriend. Michelle, who is the brains of the group, is quirky and techy and tries to innovate her way into love. Stephanie, the confident alpha of the group, masks her true self and while controlling appears to lack deep feelings of being accepted for her true self.
The girls, through the film, experience a series of misadventures — failed seductions, misunderstandings, betrayal, reconciliation, and a school-wide scandal involving an app that is hacked and exposes students’ secrets. Along the way, the girls realize that love and sex aren’t about fulfilling tasks. Rather, they revolve around honesty, self-respect, and mutual consent.
The themes in the story emphasize the importance of trust, friendship, and being genuine as the girls in the story achieve closure, and in some cases, a budding relationship, before graduating from high school.
Main Characters and Performances
Madison Pettis as Annie – Annie is the one that holds the film together emotionally. Pettis represents Annie as a blend of emotionally conditioned and innocent. She is a “heart on the sleeve” type of a girl, and for Annie, her character arc involves personal growth in her self-esteem and expressive interactions with other people.
Piper Curda as Kayla – Kayla is the group’s wild card. She is loud, impulsive and unapologetic and adds some of the movie’s outrageous comedy. Curda brings a charismatic performance but the overall character lacks deep exploration aside from the standard tough girl façade.
Natasha Behnam as Michelle – Michelle is the resident tech wizard and is an earnest social misfit and a nerdy, awkward genius. Behnam adds some charm to the character but her story arc, which focused on her having a crush on a popular football player, is cliché and stale.
As Stephanie, Lizze Broadway brings sass and style to the confident, sexually assertive queen bee of the group. While the writing sometimes teeters into cliché, her character arc holds some of the most genuine and emotional moments of the film.
Supporting roles include a collection of stereotypical high school characters like football jocks and mean girls. They feel less like real people and more like plot devices. There’s also an attempt to pay homage to the franchise’s legacy with some past references, including a cameo from Steve Talley, who played Dwight Stifler in earlier spin-offs.
Thematic Focus and Overall Tone
The most noteworthy attempt in Girls’ Rules is to replace the male-centric storyline from the first American Pie with a more balanced approach. This is primarily done through the film’s female characters who, in this case, are given the same liberty to pursue sexual and romantic relationships as unapologetically as they please. This film aims to, once and for all, normalize female sexual desire and showcase high school girls as smart emotionally empowered, and unapologetically sexual.
Still, the execution is inconsistent. The film struggles to swing between juvenile gags to self-discovery. The attempt to modernize the franchise with mentions of online dating, consent culture, and even LGBTQ inclusivity falls short of the mark and it struggles to tackle them with the nuance needed.
While the original American Pie relied heavily on rude charm and awkward humor, Girls’ Rules seems to lean towards a Netflix soft teen drama blended with raunchy dialogue. The identity crisis here is trying to be edgy and woke for the sake of modern feminisim while failing to excelling at both.
Production and Direction
The clear highlight from the students’ film projects for american pie film class is the direction of Mike Elliot. The film’s style is bright and fast paced, filled with high school sterotypes and circa 2010 tropes. The direction is dry and uninspired, drawing on formulaic construction and dry set pieces such as drama in school hallways, party scenes, and neglected shool gym in addition to slo-mo.
The screenplay from Blayne Weaver and David H. Steinberg seeks to merge teen sex comedy staples with empowering social messages. The attempt is commendable, but the overall execution is lacking. The dialogue comes off as awkward and forced, especially with so called empowering mini speeches from characters.
Like many teen comedies, it is filled with catchy pop tunes and is shot in a clear and appealing manner. Itis also 95 minutes long, is accurately paced, and will never feel tiresome to watch.
Reception and Legacy
Reception is largely negative, in particular to those associated with Girls’ Rules. Critics agree that franchise fans would be disappointed with the lack of the shocking, crass, and silly humor of the original. Others agreed with the attempt in portraying a woman’s worldview, but the failure to thoroughly navigate the themes of friendship and sexuality left a huge gap.
Many people also criticized the lack of dimensions that the film presented, with a lot of it revolving around outworn tropes, and the overly simplistic story it presented. Reviewers also pointed out that while the cast put in real effort, their performances were rendered bland and unremarkable by the unimaginative script.
Despite negative reviews, the film was able to attract younger viewers looking for female driven comedies, as it was marketed as a teen flick that was simple and enjoyable to watch.
Conclusion
American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules is an overtly flawed attempt to reshape a male-centered franchise to a modern, female perspective. It endeavors to empower younger women along with portraying them as multifaceted teens involving themselves in love and sex on their own terms. Its misplaced tone, lack of sharpness, clichéd structure, and an overall blend of mediocrity keeps it from achieving a truly notable impact.
For supporters of the original series, it may feel like a missed chance. It could function as a shallow, approachable gateway to the realm of teenage comedies for newcomers. Nevertheless, it still showcases that while attempting to flip the gendering of the genre is a wise first step, thoughtful storytelling and skilled writing still stand as the ultimate linchpin to truly impactful storytelling.
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