Nostalgia and raunch combine to make a sentimentally dirty comedy worthy of the American Pie name in American Pie: Reunion.

Like it or loathe it, American Pie ushered in a new era of raunchy comedy. It was dirtier, nastier and perhaps even funnier than what came before it, but it also posed a question: where do they go from here?

After a few sequels and straight to video spin-offs, the answer is back to the beginning with American Pie: Reunion bringing back all of the core characters featured in the first film.

No doubt it’s been a long time between slices of pie for many critics, so Universal smartly compiled a montage of the pie violating, super glue masturbating, band camp shenanigans from the first three movies which they played for critics before the movie, and it’s a god thing because American Pie: Reunion needs to be approached with a certain mindset.

The crux of the film revolves around the famed 1999 class of East Great Falls high school, now stuck in a mid 30’s funk. Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are married with child and have no sex life, Oz (Chris Klein) loathes his career, and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Finch (Eddie Kay Thomas) both question the trajectory of their lives.

The only constant is the tenacious Stiffler (Sean William-Scott) who still has the mind of a horny 13 year old and the mouth to match.

Needless to say things get suitably worse before they get better, and …Reunion doesn’t shy away from the raunch that makes the American Pie franchise what it is today. In fact, this (hopefully) closing chapter is perhaps the raunchiest of them all.

This is due to writer/director Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. As the men who created the Harold and Kumar series (films that would not have existed without American Pie), they know that the only way to make this series relevant during these porno loving, Jersey Shore watching times is to push the envelope.

This approach often backfires, with moments that go even beyond bad taste.

Yet what Hurwitz and Schlossberg do get right is the sentimentality these characters possess, especially in the inherent sweetness of Jim’s dad, who is always wonderfully played by Eugene Levy.

Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, and with its characters and late ‘90s soundtrack …Reunion will take those who enjoyed the first two films back to that time and place. Now it’s time to put this franchise to sleep and say goodbye.