Pitch Perfect

 

I know that there's an audience for Pitch Perfect, but I'm not part of it.  I didn't care for the movie much, but if you watch the trailers and think it would appeal to you, more power to you.  If you enjoy the TV series Glee, you certainly will like it, as the movie often feels like a feature length episode of the show.  I will admit, the a cappella performances are energetic and well-done.  But the plot and all the stuff in-between the performances had me squirming in my seat.  It often feels like a soundtrack in search of a movie.

The plot and characters are pretty much assembled from other teen-centric movies.  It's like a DJ putting together a greatest hits collection of cliches.  We're introduced to the two main competing a cappella groups at Barden University.  There's the all-male Treblemakers, who win every year, and the all-girl Barden Bellas, who were humiliated when they made it to the national finals last year, only to have their main singer and team leader, Aubrey (Anna Camp), accidentally projectile vomit all over the audience in the middle of a song.  The Bellas are seeking redemption this year, and just may have it with this year's new recruits.  They include our lead heroine, Beca (Anna Kendrick), an emotionally isolated young girl who dreams of mixing music professionally in L.A., and only joined the group because her father (a professor at the college) forced her to join a group and meet some people.

Beca joins the Bellas, and wants to shake up their song selection, injecting some fresh energy into their performances.  Aubrey is initially against it, but the other members of the group soon take Beca's side, including Aubrey's best friend, Chloe (Brittany Snow).  The other new members of the group are a bunch of well-meaning oddballs who also take to Beca's way of thinking.  They include the sarcastic Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson from Bridesmaids), the sexy Stacie (Alexis Knapp), Cynthia (Ester Dean), whom the girls think may be a lesbian, and the very bizarre Lilly (Hana Mae Lee), who speaks and sings with such a quiet voice, I wondered how she made it through the audition process.  As if this inner turmoil amongst the group isn't enough, even more "drama" is added when Beca strikes up a friendship with one of the members of the Treblemakers, the kind and movie-obsessed Jesse (Skylar Astin), which may lead to a possible romance.

Pitch Perfect seems like one of those movies that's been tailored to appeal to just about every audience demographic it can think of.  It has spirited a cappella renditions of music from the 80s and 90s, it has teen soap opera elements about love and betrayal, it has elements of the underdogs overcoming the odds plot, and just to make sure it has all the bases covered, it has gross-out humor, with not one, but two, graphic depictions of Aubrey's projectile vomiting that rivals Linda Blair from The Exorcist.  The movie feels completely mass-produced in every way.  It strains so hard to be likable and pleasing and big-hearted that I kind of started to feel uneasy.  Now, I can be just as manipulated as the regular viewer. (I'm the guy who liked The Odd Life of Timothy Green, remember.) But there has to be something behind the manipulations - some intelligence, or a character I can cling to or like.  This movie is all manipulation, and no character.

There's just a lot of stuff in this movie that did not work for me.  During the a cappella competitions, there are two announcers (played by Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins), who offer snarky and sarcastic commentary of the events going on.  But, I couldn't figure out who they were supposed to be talking to, since I didn't see any cameras or recording equipment around them.  They're just sitting there, trading insults, and making comments.  The fact that John Michael Higgins seems to be doing an imitation of Fred Willard's performance from the "mockumentary", Best in Show, only made me wish I was watching that movie instead.  Aside from the well-staged musical numbers, there's just a very amateurish quality to the movie.  The cast tries hard, but they can't rise above this well-worn material.  It's especially sad seeing Anna Kendrick struggling bravely with this stuff, since she's very talented, and has been a lot better than this in other films.  Heck, her smaller role in the recent End of Watch, as Jake Gyllenhaal's wife, is much better than the stuff you'll find here.

 

This is a case of a movie just not doing anything for me.  If it sounds like something you'd like to see, ignore this cranky critic.  All I can say is that Pitch Perfect failed to impress me outside of its musical numbers.  I probably would have enjoyed just watching a half hour of highlights from the film.  At nearly two hours, the movie just drags, and never really goes anywhere new.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments