New York City bicycle courier
Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is at the end of a tough day dodging traffic and
delivering packages across the length and breadth of Manhattan when he gets one last call. Wilee
has to pick up an envelope from a college campus Uptown and deliver it to Chinatown by 7pm but is soon approached by a debt ridden,
crocked cop (Michael Shannon) who tries to take the package off his hands.
Sensing something isn’t right; Wilee takes off at high speed which brings about
a two hour chase across the Borough and ends up involving Wilee’s ex girlfriend
Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), love rival Manny (Wole Parks) and luckless bike cop
(Christopher Place).
For a film about a bike messenger trying to deliver an
envelope, Premium Rush is a lot of
fun. The action is fast paced and well shot and the acting good and sometimes
great. The plot is a little uninvolving but plays second fiddle to the high
speed bike action.
Thirteen years after graduating high school, friends Jim (Jason
Biggs), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye
Thomas) and Stifler (Seann William Scott) all end up back in their home town of
East Great Falls for their High School Reunion. The plot centres around Jim and
Michelle’s (Alyson Hannigan) stuttering marriage and on Stifler’s inability to
grow up. Apart from that there are numerous side stories regarding every main
character including Jim’s Dad’s (Eugene Levy) loneliness after the death of his
wife and various old feelings returning.
The whole cast of the original movie have returned and there
are even cameos from the likes of The Sherminator and the Milf Guys. Most of
the cameos are welcome and either bring closure to their story or a bit of
humour but Shannon Elizabeth’s Nadia made a brief and unremarkable appearance.
I especially enjoyed the Milf Guys small subplot and their closing dialogue. The film has found a way to bring together all
the pieces from the original trilogy and ties them off well. There are still
some big surprises (“Milf! Milf!), some upsets and even a couple of new
characters but the film is at its best when the guys are together being
themselves and in particular one scene featuring Stifler and Jim’s Dad. It was
also nice to see Stifler’s Mom (Jennifer Coolidge) and Jim’s Dad get some
screen time together as they have been so successful in the past in many of
Christopher Guest’s movies.