but a

tasty

slice

Peter Magill

CARDS on the table time. When I heard they were making a third installment of this 21st century Porkies franchise, I wept the same tears of 'joy' as if I'd just heard Rowan Atkinson was "very excited" about shooting a follow-up to Johnny English.

Don't misunderstand - we all chortled heartily at the original. Having sex, getting drunk, Shannon Elizabeth, Stifler's mom, fun with pastry. Magic beans.

Made minor stars of Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott. And did wonders for Mr Kipling's sales.

Then came American Pie 2. Same old running gags, Scott and Biggs holding their own (hmm), Mena Suvari and Chris Klein looking distinctly embarrassed and contractually-bound to appear.

Trudging into UCI, surrounded by young morons with no concept of irony (to whom Stifler is a demi-God), my hopes were as high as Ulrika Jonsson's credibility.

Just goes to show.

For sheer laugh-out-loud moments Pie III almost follows the first slice's recipe for success (sadly almost none of them repeatable in a family newspaper).

Quick recap: Jim Levenstein (Biggs) is getting hitched to band camp beauty Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan). But not without some well-meaning pre-nuptial interference from Steve Stifler (Scott), Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas) and Thomas Ian Nicholas, as The Boring One.

Not surprisingly Stifler is initially excluded from the ceremony - but his implausibly impeccable ballroom dancing repertoire (and attempts to bed Michelle's younger sister Cadence) sees him infiltrate the wedding dress/stag do/bride's parents stages of the preparations.

Little bit daring for an American Pie script? Well it works a treat - for the most part.

Biggs does clumsy-but-well-meaning to a tee, likewise Scott as the hyperactive boorish jock. Even to the point in the opening reel where you suspect he might be mentally imbalanced, he laughs maniacally so much.

And Jim's dad (Eugene Levy) still has the driest one-liners of all of them.

Censorship and good taste restricts this reporter from detailing the high spots - but look out for a knee-trembling opening salvo, a chocolate treat you won't find at Thornton's and something which definitely ISN'T in the Help The Aged handbook.

Eight out of 10: American Pie - they do make exceedingly good takes