"Pitch Perfect" Review

"Pitch Perfect"

Directed by Jason Moore

Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Alexis Knapp

 

RATING

6/10

So I've been quite busy these past couple of days which explains the lack of a film review yesterday. My one-review-a-day challenge isn't broken because I hope to compensate with three reviews today, starting with "Pitch Perfect". Essentially, what you have here is a hybrid of "Bridesmaids" and "Glee". That already sounds risky, but it damn near surprised me.

 

"Pitch Perfect" tells the story of a rebellious teenager, Beca, who begins a college where the main attraction on campus is, believe it or not, singing groups. It's somewhat of a battle between these singing groups as each represents a different type of person, for example, you have a singing groups comprised only of women, then men, then hippie stoners, etc.... I really wished the latter had more time. So, after joining this stale all-female group called The Bellas, Beca decides to switch up the normal routine and give the group a more edgier sound.

 

Let's just start with Anna Kendrick (as if we could start anywhere else). She is one of the most beautiful women on the planet, and her presence on-screen is always welcome. She gives her role, who is a reclusive punk, a slightly bitchy and rough style. It's a good performance, and she definitely has a great singing voice too. Then we have the very colourful supporting cast consisting of general stereotypes with nice little twists. The fat girl is very conscious of her weight and insists on being called "Fat Amy" to save gossipers the trouble. The loud-mouthed Asian girl in these types of films is now a very (very) soft-spoken and shy girl who says some... odd things. Glad to see some psychological instability for a movie about singing. Lotta depth right there. The large black girl who usually has the booming, soulful voice is a lesbian... yeah. So these characters are vibrant enough to get attached to them and you'll find their strangeness to be one of the strongest points of the film.

 

Watching this film, I knew that I wasn't the demographic audience for it. I'm not that big into musicals unless it's Sweeney Todd or the dwarves in "The Hobbit", and I didn't like "Bridesmaids" all that much. Doesn't help that I only partially like songs from "Glee" either (let's face it, the duet of 'Dream On' with Niel Pattrick Harris and Matthew Morrison is ridiculously awesome). So you could say I had no hopes for seeing a movie I would actually like... and I was proven wrong again. I actually found it quite enjoyable. The musical numbers were pretty good, and I liked the fusion of the different genres incorporated into the moments when Beca decides to mix things up. Hip-hop, RnB and pop all combined was toe-tapping. Forgot to mention Beca is also a DJ, which probably adds to the whole mix-and-match vibe. My favorite part of the film is the throwback to "The Breakfast Club", particularly the song "Don't Forget About Me" by Simple Minds. It ties in to the climax of the film, and I loved how it talked a little about movie endings. That was neat touch for a film buff, but it does instill some sort of mystery about it's own ending which, I gotta say, was pretty disappointing given this conversation about the importance of film endings... So basically, what this is is the acapella version of "Step Up". The competition is still there, you get a love story (which is infinitely better than anything in "Step Up", to be honest), and the same formula.

 

Because of that, the film does become quite predictable and it ultimately pulls you out of the story in many moments. There's also a couple of puking scenes, but not a few trickles... but buckets of it spewing out of one girl's mouth like a waterfall. I still don't know if that was supposed to be funny or disgusting, but it just makes you go "what the f*** am I watching?". The ending is typically predictable too, there really wasn't anything hanging in the balance because you knew the outcome of such a film, but the usage of the Simple Minds' song was really cool. 

 

"Pitch Perfect" is not a perfect movie (see what I did there?), but it is very fun to watch and when a movie comes along and proves me wrong, it's always a plus. However, it does suffer a lot from predictability and a few unnecessary gags despite a charismatic cast and head-bobbing musical numbers. I highly recommend this for the crowds that like a little bite to their cliche competition movies, but even for the guys who despise "Glee"... give this a shot. You might find something in it.