10 Film Franchises You Really Should Stop Watching After The First Movie
4. American Pie
While there's no mistaking 1999's American Pie as the second coming of Citizen Kane, it certainly was one of the better late 90s teen movies (many of which were parodied in Not Another Teen Movie). It was a strangely charming coming of age story about four high school males looking to get laid for the first time on Senior Prom night.
The movie was notable for introducing mainstream movie-goers to Jason Biggs (Jim) and Sean William Scott (Stifler), and to a lesser extent, Mena Suvari (Heather). While masturbation using baked goods may not be everyone's idea of good humor, the movie was filled with other memorable scenes and jokes ("This one time, at band camp" and "MILF" to name just two).
Two years later, the bulk of the cast was reunited for American Pie 2, which regurgitated many of the same jokes and used the Stifler character in a more central role, despite the fact that his extreme, obnoxious frat-boy act worked best in small doses in the first movie. Two years after that, fewer original cast members returned as Biggs' Jim was married off to Alyson Hannigan's Michelle.
Then in 2012, the seas were parted to get the whole gang back together for American Reunion. Each subsequent movie had fewer and fewer laughs, and that's not even taking into the account the four direct-to-DVD entries the franchise released between 2005 and 2009.
As the original's tagline said, "There's something about your first piece'."
In this case, take in all the laughs the first time around in American Pie, and avoid the watered down sequels.