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Audiences have sat through torturously bad sequels, remakes, and newly concocted drivel this year without a mass revolt. Studios are lucky ticket buyers haven't organized and made a stand against $100 million-budgeted chunks of garbage. And now we have the third film of a gross-out comedy series competing for our hard-earned cash. Please pass the Tylenol.

How many more penises and pies can we take? How many descriptions of anal sex can we sit through without the top of our heads opening up and our brains leaking out onto the sticky theater floors? With no virgins left to sacrifice, no Spring Break fiascos left to film, how is this movie going to be funny?

“American Pie” took the teen comedy genre and stood it on its head. “American Pie 2” did a decent job of recapturing what was appealing about the first “Pie,” and “American Wedding” - well, “American Wedding” pulls off the near impossible. “Wedding” is better than “2” and comes within a few punchlines of being as good as the original.

The filmmakers have taken key members of the original “Pie” gang and shoved them grudgingly toward adulthood. Along with gross-out gags and sexual hijinks, they remembered the most important “Pie” ingredient - heart. These characters are people we know and can relate to in some twisted form or another. Screenwriter Adam Herz (responsible for all 3 “Pies”) injected the right mix of comedy and affection into this warm slice of “Pie.”

An original plotline that had the grandmother's impending death as the catalyst to a fast wedding has been dropped from this finished version. It's not explained why after all those years of dating, Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) have to cram planning a wedding into just a couple of weeks. From the proposal, to selecting the dress, to booking a location and finding a caterer, everything takes place in less than a month. Why? Well apparently why's not important in the world of “Pie.”

Everything that happens in this third (and final?) movie is directly related to the impending nuptials. And everything that goes on immediately prior to a wedding is fodder for “American Pie's” trademark antics. As with the first two films, it's Stifler who either instigates or is directly involved in the grossest of the gross-out gags.

While this is Jim and Michelle's time to shine, it's actually Stifler's movie. From showing off his skills during a dance-off in a gay bar, to following dogs around waiting for the missing wedding ring to reappear (note to audiences - put down your popcorn during this scene), Seann William Scott is the glue that holds “American Wedding” together and the main reason to sit through this sexually loaded, extremely raunchy offering.

Most of the females from the first two “Pies” are MIA. New character Cadence (January Jones), Michelle's gorgeous younger sister, arrives for the wedding and is immediately the center of a battle between Stifler and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas). Adding Cadence to the cast was necessary to bring about startlingly changes in both of those established characters. In a kind of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” twist, Finch and Stifler temporarily become their own worst nightmares.

There's only one male “Pie” guy who's left out this time around and that's Oz (Chris Klein). “American Pie 2” felt heavy with unnecessary characters because the filmmakers wanted the entire original cast to return. They've trimmed back to just the essentials this time and while Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) made the cut, Oz was deemed unneeded.

Personally, I think the trailer gave too much away. Was it necessary to show the flying pubic hairs to get people in the seats? No, and it spoiled one of Jason Biggs' best scenes. Perhaps the filmmakers were worried their target audience would see “Wedding” in the title and get turned off, so pubic hairs and the 'Jim on top of the dog on top of Stifler' scene had to be used to say, “See, just because there's a marriage in the works doesn't mean we have to get all serious on you.” As if. The filmmakers know their audience and deliver one of this summer's funniest movies.

Grade: B+

"American Wedding" was directed by Jesse Dylan and is rated R for sexual content, language and crude humor.