The Movie

American Pie: Beta House is a direct-to-video set in the world of the teen comedy American Pie. "Beta House", like its predecessors American Pie: Band Camp and American Pie: The Naked Mile, are tied to the original trilogy only in name. The relatives of the overly perverted jock Stifler (Seann Williams Scott) are brought to life with an overplayed theme of partying, senseless nudie shots, and piss and fart jokes. The cherry on top is a lame storyline. In short, "Beta House" is another bad attempt to capitalize off of a brand name by attracting young viewers looking to see a few topless girls and sit through some mindless jokes.

Erik Stifler (John White) and his friend Mike Coozeman (Jake Siegel) start freshman year of college and pledge the frat house Beta Delta Epsilon a.k.a. Beta House. Steve Talley reprises his role of Dwight Stiller from American Pie: The Naked Mile. Dwight is Erik's womanizing cousin who is in charge of Beta House. Along for the ride are Erik's easygoing roommate Bobby (Nic Nac) and a myriad of lame secondary characters like Christopher McDonald as Mr. Stifler and Eugene Levy as Noah Levenstein.

Erik and his new buddies go to parties, meet lots of hot college coeds (who freely show their breasts if that's important to you), and partake in nasty, over-the-top jokes that come off more stupid than funny. During their adventures, there are a few storylines. First, Erik meets a cute coed named Ashley (Meghan Heffern) and forms a relationship with her. He has a couple obstacles to overcome, which include premature ejaculation and masturbation jokes. Mike falls for Ashley's sexy southern roommate, who won't have sex with him. She has a secret. Expect some transsexual/hermaphrodite jokes. Second, Erik and his buddies have to complete fifty different tasks before the semester ends to become full-fledged Betas. This adventure includes a homosexual wedding, a wild time at a strip club, and more.

The third and final storyline is a fraternity rivalry. The Betas used to be the hottest house on campus. However, their rival frat house Gamma Epsilon Epsilon Kappa -- which is affectionately referred to as the Geek House -- has been using their brains and wealth to crush the Betas. (Think Revenge of the Nerds backwards.) The Geeks want to takeover the school and they are intent on crushing the Betas. The two houses compete in a perverted college tradition known as the Greek Olympiad. The Olympiad is a series of events that include de-braing girls, Russia roulette with horse semen, catching a pig, and other stupid stunts.

What works for "Beta House" is very little. The movie has one bad joke after the other with lots of topless girls. For instance, the story begins with Mr. Stifler encouraging his son Erik to sleep with as many girls as possible. The object is sex, not education. It is a poor start to an awful movie. The plotlines, like the jokes, are lackluster, transparent, and offer little to keep interest. For an overall film, "Beta House" is as bad as they get. Unless you have a huge hankering to see lots of naked girls and uninteresting plotlines, there is not reason to give American Pie: Beta House a second thought. I recommend you skip it.

The DVD

Video
The video is given in 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color format. For the most part, the picture quality looks pretty good. There is a distinct grain in the video and it is noticeable throughout the feature.

Audio
The audio is given in Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French, Spanish). The surround sound audio track is overkill, as the feature is dialogue driven. There are also subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Extras

• Deleted Storylines (15:40): is a sequence of scenes that were removed from the movie. There are five storylines, which include "Jake Parker MIA", "Rodney MIA", "The Blackout Menace", "Who's That Girl?", and "The International Party". They can be watched individually or in a sequence via the play all option. There is also an optional commentary with Andrew Waller, Erik Lindsay, John White, Steve Talley, Jake Siegel, Meghan Heffern, Nic Nac, and Bradford Anderson.
• Deleted Scenes (4:26): is a collection of deleted scenes entitled "Wanna Go to a Wedding?", "Let The Games Begin!", "The Lightning Bolts of Zeus", "The Roman Baths", and "Edgar's Epilogue". They can be watched individually or in a sequence via the play all option. There is also an optional commentary with Andrew Waller, Erik Lindsay, John White, Steve Talley, Jake Siegel, Meghan Heffern, Nic Nac, and Bradford Anderson.
• Outtakes (3:46): is a short collection of outtakes. There are several outtakes of Nic Nac during his sexual escapades.
• Exclusive Interview with Mr. Levenstein (3:20): is a mock interview with Noah Levenstein. An attractive blonde gal (acting serious) acts Mr. Levenstein to explain the history of the Greek Olympiad.
• Behind the Games (6:40): is a featurette that stars cast and crew. They talk about the main events of the Greek Olympiad.
• Beta House - Not Just Another Slice of Pie (13:42): is another featurette with cast and crew. They talk about the movie and how it is different from American Pie: The Naked Mile. Apparently it is not only bigger and better, but it is wilder and crazier.
• Boobie "Yule Log": is collection of clips "Jingle Bells" (2:34),"Tassels" (2:22), "Birthday Suit" (2:34), and "Bigger and Better" (1:09). The clips play in a loop and focus on the chest area of bare breasts or boobs with tassels. There is also "classy" music in the background.
• Nuts About Pie (3:02): is behind the scenes footage of the cast and crew "sacking" each other. Imagine a bunch of guys punching each other in the groin area.
• American Pie Presents: A Public Service Announcement (1:54): making a joke about the seriousness of sex and drinking.
• UGO's Foxy Fan on the Set (2:13): is a behind the scenes video with a girl named Jenny on the set of "Beta House".
• Music Videos: are included for "Won More Time" and "Luv T'Day". Both songs are from the musical group God Made Me Funky.
• A Feature Commentary is included with Andrew Waller, Erik Lindsay, John White, Steve Talley, Jake Siegel, Meghan Heffern, and Nic Nac.
• 30 Rock Episode "Hard Ball" (21:38): A full episode of the NBC hit show 30 Rock is included.

Final Thoughts
American Pie: Beta House is another attempt to capitalize off of the popular teen comedy American Pie. "Beta House" follows a similar theme to its direct-to-video predecessors (American Pie: Band Camp and American Pie: The Naked Mile) by bringing the world a dull storyline with topless girls and crude, raunchy humor. The movie proves to be another dud. If anything, it will bore you and leave you wondering why you wasted an hour and a half of your life. Skip it.