2023 teen comedy The Crusades may not have been a critical success, but for Millennial viewers like me, it’s a surprisingly refreshing example of how the genre has moved away from its problematic roots (and, admittedly, an exercise in self-reflection on what I used to laugh about when I was in the target audience age group). Directed by Leo Milano and starring Rudy Pankow Khalil Everage and Ryan Ashton among the cast, The Crusades doesn’t do much to reinvent the teen comedy genre as far as plot goes.
However, while it may not be groundbreaking, it is extremely fun in its own way. It is also a huge improvement in the tone given by people like American Pie, Superbad, and other films of the same genre from my adolescence. The Crusades The film is proof that teen comedies can still be raunchy, edgy, and push boundaries without being problematic, and there are several reasons why the 2023 film should have a much better reputation than its 22% critical score on Rotten tomatoes suggests (although the 89% viewership rating shows that regular viewers are giving Milano’s comedy the respect it deserves).
The Crusades manage to celebrate male friendships without focusing on sex
The 2023 teen comedy shows that young people aren’t just interested in physical activity
The most refreshing thing I found about The Crusades was that the plot managed to focus on a group of teenagers without revolving entirely around sex. When I was the target age for raunchy teen comedies, the narratives almost always revolved around the central characters’ attempts to finally lose their virginity. This was the case with many R-rated comedies of the 2000s, such as American Pie, Superbad, and even parodies like It’s not another teen movie. It even extended to teen comedy films that didn’t focus on male protagonists, like 2009’s 18 year old virgin and 2018 Blockers.
While sex, of course, is a major factor in many of the jokes in The Crusades, the plot definitely doesn’t revolve around any attempt by the characters to finally experience physical intimacy. Instead, the main focus is on Leo (Rudy Pankow), Sean (Khalil Everage) and Jack (Ryan Ashton)’s attempts to have one last carefree weekend together before their school, Our Lady of the Crusades, merges with rival St. .
This poses a big problem for Leo, Sean and Jack, as the merger also means that one of the most violent kids in town, Vince (Ashley Nicole Ryan) will have them in his sights. They know that Vince will undoubtedly make their lives hell, and so the trio decide to try and have as much fun as possible before the merge means they can’t escape his wrath.
It is this tension and the determination to make the most of youth that is the central theme of The Crusades, rather than anything related to sex. Yes, several subplots involve sex, but they take a backseat to the trio’s fears about Vince and their attempts to overcome them with one last weekend of anxiety-free hedonism. Furthermore, the subplots that to do involve sexual activity in some way, inverts many of the gender tropes established by the likes of American Pie in their heads, although all of these warrant further examination in their own right.
The film Crusades treats adults who seduce minors as the serious problem that it is
Mrs. Kerpial encouraging Leo’s passion has huge consequences
There were many moments in 2000s teen comedies that involved one of the male characters lusting after a woman many decades older than them. The most famous example of this is, of course, Stifler’s mother in American Pie. As was cinema legend when I was a teenager, Sitfler’s (Jennifer Coolidge) mother ended up being ‘seduced’ by Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) at the end of the film. At the time, this was seen as a huge victory for Finch – although in hindsight it was incredibly problematic.
Although Stifler’s mother’s age has never been clarified, she was at least in her early 30s, or possibly even in her early 40s (Jennifer Coolidge herself was around 38 when American Pie was filmed in 1999). Finch and the rest of American Pie the characters were between 17 or 18 years old. In retrospect, it wasn’t actually Finch who did the ‘seduction’ at the end of American Pie in any way. He was underage, and if the situation played out in real life, it wouldn’t be funny at all.
This is where The Crusades rectifies an extremely problematic trope of 2000s teen films. In The Crusades, Leo has a crush on his Italian teacher, Mrs. Kerpial (Anna Maiche). Mrs. Kerpial’s age is never disclosed, but that doesn’t matter. She is still an adult, while Leo is a minor. The fact that she encourages his advances in a seductive manner is highly, highly inappropriate.
It’s at the end of The Crusades that this particular plot comes to a head, and in doing so, shows how Leo Milano’s film is a vast improvement over films like American Pie. Although Leo never became intimate with Mrs. Kerpial, Vince reveals that he had a relationship with the teacher when she was a member of the faculty at St. John’s College.
Instead of joking about it, or Vince being applauded for managing to ‘seduce’ his teacher, Mrs. Kerpial is arrested for child molestation. This is, of course, what would have happened in real life. However, when comparing the moment to Finch and Stifler’s mother, it shows how much of an improvement it was The Crusades is to many of the highly troubling moments of many raunchy teen comedies of the past. It is a turning point that The Crusades should have been praised – and it’s a shame that many critics ignored it to focus on the perceived lack of innovation in Leo Milano’s 2023 film.
The Crusades doesn’t celebrate characters like Stifler
Teen comedies have moved away from toxic masculinity
If there was one character who became a pop culture icon in the 2000s thanks to american pie, it was Stifler (Seann William Scott). Stifler was seen as the height of fashion by many viewers when American Pie debuted in 1999 and was treated the same way by his film co-stars. However, looking back, Stifler wasn’t cool at all. Crude and incredibly sexist, Stifler should be seen as just one example of everything that is wrong with toxic masculinity and the attitudes towards sex and women that it encourages in teenagers.
The Crusades the film doesn’t lose sight of this fact, and there are not one, but two characters who emulate Stifler’s humor and philosophy of life. However, instead of being celebrated, they are seen as incredibly noteworthy by other characters in the film. It’s a subtle commentary on the history of teen comedies and a genre, and it may not have been deliberate, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
The first of these characters in The Crusades film is Riggs (played by Adam Shalzi). Whenever Leo, Sean, Jack and their wider circle of friends are discussing sex or girls, Riggs is always there to derail the conversation with some kind of crude or obscene comment – the kind of statement Stifler would make as a ‘joke’ in American Pie. However, instead of being rewarded with laughter or compliments when he mentions (for example) that he has his X-Box controller charged so a girl can take advantage of the vibration feature, Riggs is treated with strange looks. This stops the entire conversation, showing that your colleagues don’t appreciate your perspective at all.
The second character who seems anti-Stifler is Coach Krieger, the gym teacher from Our Lady of the Crusades. In many ways, Coach Krieger could almost be a grown-up Stifler. There are many moments where he tries to give the boys advice about women, and his vulgar comments and the complete disrespect he shows make each of them incredibly uncomfortable. They clearly have no respect for Krieger, and rightly so.
However, when comparing Krieger’s horrible ‘advice’ to much of the advice Stifler gives to people like Jason Biggs’ Jim in american pie, the two are almost indistinguishable. It was incredibly refreshing to see these types of views disregarded by the central characters of The Crusades, rather than being seen as some kind of sage wisdom, as similar feelings were from Stifler towards Jim, Finch and the rest of the gang in American Pie (and, unfortunately, by the public).
The film Crusades still contains a lot of bold and crude humor (without being actually offensive)
The Modern Teen Comedy Still Has Teeth
This final point was, for me, the best thing about the film The Crusades. Yes, it manages to eliminate many of the problematic themes that plagued the raunchy sex-based teen comedies of the 2000s. However, in doing so, it loses absolutely none of its edge. The film can still be just as crass, vulgar, and (at times) incredibly gross – but it never does so through the incredibly masculine and toxic lens that its predecessors in the genre did.
For example, the film begins with the boys taking Jack to a late-night brawl at a local baseball diamond against a St. Matthews student. It is quickly revealed that the student he is fighting is deaf. This immediately made me hold my breath – I was completely prepared for some kind of incredibly offensive joke at the expense of the hearing impaired. Instead of, The Crusades offers exactly the opposite.
Firstly, Jack is beaten almost unconscious by the other student. He’s on the ground after a single punch. Secondly, none of the characters make jokes at the expense of their opponent’s deafness. Thirdly, the character himself manages to make an incredibly funny joke that doesn’t miss the joke, but uses it as humor.
He puts his hand to one ear after landing the winning blow on Jack, gesturing with the other for the crowd to cheer louder so he can truly enjoy them celebrating his victory. It’s utterly hilarious and heartbreaking in many ways, as the character takes advantage of his disability to use it in a joke that leaves Jack on the receiving end, rather than the other way around.
However, The Crusades is a huge improvement when it comes to raunchy teen comedies compared to other American Pie, Superbad, and many others that I and viewers of my generation were exposed to during the early 2000s. It’s a shame that critics didn’t rate it in that regard, because if they had, it’s highly likely that it would have received a similar level of praise. from critics, as well as received from his many fans.