It’s been a while since we got an American Pie entry, or at least one that played in an actual movie theater. The last proper entry, American Reunion, came out 10 years ago, so it’s probably for another. One of the many direct-to-video spin-offs, came out in 2020, but they’re not necessarily cannon, even if many of them actually feature Eugene Levy (though let’s assume he’s finally above them now). Long story short, the title, nicked from the Don McLean classic, is fair game.
Anyway, please don’t assume the newly announced Apple TV+ Mrs. American Pie has anything to do with the series about horny high schoolers (and later collegiates, and later grown-up adults). Because it doesn’t. It’s a 10-episode comedy starring no less than Kristen Wiig and, probably, pending a finalized deal, Laura Dern, and its set-up is decidedly different. As per the press release, it’s set “during the powderkeg era of the early 1970’s,” and it follows Wiig’s Maxine Simmons and her attempts to “secure her seat at America’s most exclusive table: Palm Beach high society.”
The press release also claims it will ask some big questions:
As Maxine attempts to cross that impermeable line between the haves and the have-nots, “Mrs. American Pie” asks the same questions that still baffle us today: “Who gets a seat at the table?” “How do you get a seat at the table?” “What will you sacrifice to get there?”
Wiig is hot off one of last year’s most-liked films, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, as well as a memorable reunion with Will Forte on SNL. Dern, meanwhile, finally won her Oscar two years ago, on top of already being Laura Dern.
