5.8/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 5.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Great American Pie Company remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a very specific craving for black-and-white shorts from the golden age of pie-based dramas. If you’re looking for high stakes or fast pacing, you’ll probably want to skip this one. It's a quiet, talky little thing that feels like it belongs on a dusty shelf next to The City of Masks.
Mary Foy and Chic Sale have this weird, bickering energy that feels like they’ve been arguing about fruit fillings for twenty years too long. It’s not exactly chemistry, but it’s definitely something.
The whole premise hinges on a business merger. Imagine two people acting like they’re planning a heist, but they’re just talking about crust density and sugar ratios. It’s funny in a dry way, even if the movie doesn’t seem to realize it’s being funny.
There is this one moment where Sale looks directly into the camera lens for a split second too long. I’m not sure if he was checking his mark or just bored out of his mind. It felt incredibly human, like he realized the scene was going nowhere.
Maybe it’s just me, but the way they handle the secret motive is handled with all the subtlety of a falling anvil. You know exactly what’s happening by the second minute. Still, there’s a charm to watching people act like their tiny, local business is the center of the universe.
I kept waiting for a pie to get thrown. It never happened. That felt like a missed opportunity. 🥧