A Familiar Franchise with a New Voice
Having warranted both concerns and curiosity, American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules was released as a part of a larger franchise in 2020. The American Pie franchise, iconic by this point, was part of the cultural lexicon of the late 90s and early 2000s and was characterized by a unique blend of heartwarming stories and crude teen comedy. The narrative for this new project, however, seemed to have been altered to reflect a more socially conscious approach with a primary focus on the female characters. This certainly was a bold departure for a franchise built on the stories of adolescent boys, and, to a lesser extent, the fathers of such boys. This lent the franchise even more curiosity, spanning multiple countries, including India, to wonder if this new offering to the franchise would serve as a modern reinvention of the American Pie formula.
What the Story Tried to Say
In the more normalized setting of high school, the characters Annie (Madison Pettis), Kayla (Piper Curda), Michelle (Natasha Behnam), and Stephanie (Lizze Broadway), are ordered to wait for moves to be played on the emotional chessboard by boys as outlined in the social patriarchy and subsequently make a pact to take the boys’ social initiative. This was described as “empowerment” by the film despite the more accurately described plot outline offering a host of wild pranks aligning with the franchise primary prong of crass humor and teen ‘comedy’ in ‘American pie’ juxtaposed with ‘oedipal’ pursuits.
Yet, there was a subtle shift. Whereas previous Pie films primarily focused on male fantasies, this one addressed the concerns regarding young women claiming their agency. Annie’s quest for autonomy, Kayla’s burning assertiveness, Stephanie’s conflicted loyalties, and Michelle’s quirky absurdity composed a mosaic that, albeit in exaggerated form, captured authentic adolescent sentiments.
Cast Journeys Beyond the Screen
The cast was one of the film’s strongest assets, not due to their established stardom, but because their personal experiences captured the spirit of characters struggling to create a niche for themselves.
Madison Pettis, the actress who portrayed Annie, was once a beloved child performer in The Game Plan starring Dwayne Johnson. Having grown up in Hollywood and in the spotlight, and then having to shift and reinvent herself, Annie’s journey from “the good girl” to one who asserts her place resonates with Pettis’s own challenges of navigating that transition from childhood roles to more adult narratives.
Piper Curda had already established herself in Disney Channel productions before bringing charm to Kayla. For her, entering into a raunchy comedy was an intentional leap—an assertion that she was ready to move on from her family-friendly past. This was also true for Kayla, a girl bold enough to break the conservative walls of high school life.
Natasha Behnam’s character, Michelle, was quirky, unpredictable, and unapologetically different. For Behnam, who had been struggling with auditions and smaller roles, the film was a real opportunity to showcase her talent. Her character’s refusal to fit into boxes was not just a script but also a reflection of her identity as an actress in an industry that often tries to typecast newcomers.
Lizzie Broadway, as Stephanie, balanced ambition with vulnerability. Off-screen, she too was navigating the competitive pressures of Hollywood, auditioning and trying to find her confidence after being “up-and-coming” for several years. Stephanie’s struggle between loyalty and her own needs was a metaphor for Broadway’s journey—trying to stay true to herself while the world demanded so much.
The Anticipation and the Split
Leading up to the release of the film, trailers and teasers made extensive use of the name of the franchise. The social media conversation focused on nostalgia, with fans of the original movies expressing a keen interest to see what a gender-flipped version would look like. Some users predicted a “a feminist retelling for the ages,” while others expressed the fear that the film would remove the unapologetic, raw humor that American Pie is famous for.
In India, the conversation was interesting. The American Pie series has always been a guilty pleasure for Indian college students—secretly watched on CD or late-night cable during the 2000s. For Indian audiences, who were accustomed to a culture of unspoken restrictions around sex, the movies were both liberating and shocking. When Girls’ Rules arrived, the curiosity was less about the raunch and more about whether the girls would get a meaningful and realistic portrayal, or simply be a prop in their own story.
Audience reactions were lukewarm. Younger audiences enjoyed the attempt to rewrite the perspective of the story, while older audiences expected the film to provide the raw, awkward authenticity of the earlier movies. Critics, on the other hand, described the film as “lightweight” and “too polished,” while for the streaming audience, it satisfied their need to watch something casual mixed with a nostalgic plot.
What Indian Viewers Could See in It
The film’s themes concerning young women making their own choices closely aligned with certain changes in Indian culture. Traditionally, Indian films focused on women as the ones to be pursued while newer films Queen, Gully Boy, and their ilk began to feature women as active agents ‘pursuers’. The notion of Annie ‘taking charge’ of her love life as depicted in the film may have been construed as ‘raunchy’ to western audiences, but to many Indian women, it had a far greater significance as a reflection of new and more decisive ideas concerning love and relationships.
The ‘awkwardness’ in the scenes also had a certain familiarity to Indian adults. Just as in India, where youthful and ‘shame-less’ desires and expectations in society are in a direct conflict, the girls in American Pie Presents also wrestled with identity and, in a larger sense, the judgment associated with unbridled ‘freedom’ in the society.
What Fans Missed Beneath the Laughter
The tension in the film between empowerment and the ‘franchise tradition’ is something routinized viewers have trouble picking. It may not be obvious, but the ‘parties, the gross-out humor, and the awkward encounters’ are in the film to keep the Pie brand alive. However, the film also sustains ‘quieter’ and more ‘chaotic’ elements that are associated with friendship as a lingering reminder that, long ago, the American Pie films embraced the ‘growing up’ theme.
Some Easter eggs went over fans’ heads, and references to Stifler and other hallmarks of the franchise were included for the sake of the fans. These were not mere throwaway lines, but a suggestion that the girls were stepping into a legacy, not replacing it.
Behind the Cameras: The Make of the Film
Given the legacy of the franchise, the making of Girls’ Rules came with unique challenges. For the first time, the franchise was dealing with the #MeToo era. The creative team apparently did not know how far they could take the humor and where it would turn into insensitivity. Critics of the film said it was overdeveloped with a narrative that was pedantically cautious, but insides defended the softness that it was a necessary evolution.
There were no big stars attached to the film, so it relied on fresh talent. The chemistry between the leads had to carry the film. Director Mike Elliott had the party sequences shot with a degree of improvisation to create a sense of spontaneity, although it contributed to uneven pacing in the party sequences.
The production moved across Winnipeg, Canada, and created the feel of the American high school experience on a modest budget. Crew members described the decision to maintain a bright and cheerful outlook during the shoot as a stark deviation from the visual somberness that a vast majority of the teenage drama films were presenting at the time.
A Legacy Rewritten, If Not Perfected
Although American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules, to some extent, might not have been the great success loved by the critics, it still had a great value. For the first time, the narrative of a franchise was handed to the characters that, up until that time, were mostly becoming the object of the story. For the cast, it was a major career start, giving them proof of the ability to lead a legacy brand. For the audience, it was, especially in countries like India, where the openly discussed female humor and desire was still acceptable, a great theater to watch as the society was changing.
Sure, that was, perhaps, the greatest value of the film. Not in the critics, not in the audience, not in the cast, and not in the revenue, but in allowing the teenage characters to lead a narrative, as broken and incomplete as it was.
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