Easily crowd-pleasing, Pitch Perfect scrambled to resolve its plot and resorted to taking the formulaic route, but is nevertheless a fun ride filled with entertaining musical numbers and a showcase for its talents, particularly Anna Kendrick and the scene-stealing Rebel Wilson.
The Good
- Outstanding musical numbers that inspire delight
- Rebel Wilson outshines the likable protagonist, Anna Kendrick
- Jokes are more often effective than not
The Bad
- Tends to be a typical feel-good movie with a typical feel-good ending
- Scrambled to resolve its plot rather than having a healthy progression on the transfer of power between Beca and Aubrey
Synopsis
Beca doesn't want to go to college. Instead, she wants to be Los Angeles where she can try her luck on mixing tracks and becoming a music producer. Her father disagrees and asks her to just give a try for one year in college, and if she doesn't like it, he'd send her to LA himself. Beca agrees and unwittingly joins an a capella club when a senior caught her singing Titanium on the shower. Joining the Barden Bellas, an all-girl a capella group from Barden University, Beca is now a part of a quirky a capella gang who's had a shameful time at the previous regionals. And she finds out, college ain't bad at all. That is until the pressure to get to victory starts on giving it to everyone.
Rebel Without a Cause
I have a particular penchant for Rebel Wilson since I've seen her in Bridesmaids last year, and if anything, it's because of her that I watched this movie. Prior to the watching the movie, I've seen her interview over at Ellen and I got a nagging feeling that if I let this week pass and not see Pitch Perfect, I'd be haunted by it for the rest of my life or until it's available on DVD. Thankfully, she did great, probably as good or even better than her work on Bridesmaids. Pitch Perfect gave Rebel Wilson the same scene-stealing exposure that Bridesmaids gave to Melissa McCarthy and I don't see any reason why she won't be the next big comedic thing, perhaps soon starring in her own Judd Apatow produced movie.
Smashed
I don't watch Glee and I'm not very fond of musicals or any movie that involves singing to portray a certain event or scene (the last of this kind that I liked was Chicago, or Muppets if that counts), but with Pitch Perfect, it worked for some reason, maybe because you can skip (fastforward on DVD) the singing and the story would still be in tact, but for some reason, I liked the musical numbers well enough to not get bored by them. There is something in the a capella performances that worked. Or maybe simply because the numbers were not so over the top and that they conform with the overall tone of the movie. It kept pitch, so to speak--demoting the song numbers to practice scenes and competition scenes made it un-cheesy. I in fact look forward to the song numbers in some cases because the numbers were that good.
And speaking of great musical numbers, the one that got me the most is the 30-second audition piece from Beca (Kendrick) where she did a verse from Lulu and the Lampshades' "You're Gonna Miss Me" with a paper cup as her background instrument. Her lilting voice and the simplicity of the paper cup and clap trick made this scene her brightest moment in the movie that when she finished the verse, you wanna go and cheer for more. And if anything, this number quashed my feeling that Kendrick can't deliver. She actually can sing. I've seen her in a number of films, but I've never liked her this much. I've a conflicted opinion of her in Up in the Air, though I liked her better in 50/50, but I'd say I like her most here, especially paired with Skylar Astin--whom she shares a great on-screen chemistry with.
The film, however, is not without foibles. Like one of its characters, Aubrey (Anna Camp), Pitch Perfect tries to be, well, perfect. Like most feel-good movies, it aims to make everything and everyone in its storyline happy and tends to tackle the supporting cast on a shallow level. I would have loved a bit more depth from the characters, but the movie may not have enough time to do so effectively. For instance, there is some depth in Aubrey's character development, the group's leader and little Ms. Perfect. Her father was a military official, who made sure she's disciplined and such. Glimpses of their background history are absent for the other characters, something that Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) could've benefited from and would've made her more lovable. Instead, we are only allowed access to the present state of some characters, making them less lovable and a tad less relatable.
As the film progresses, the more formulaic side of Pitch Perfect shows. Things get resolved rather easily in the end, rather than a gradual progression from being uptight and traditional into the hip group the Barden Bellas ended up becoming. I don't believe any group would have been able to change its style and manage to knock the crowd out, with what, like a month of preparation at most? And, yes, that final number of the Bellas felt like a mess. I particularly disliked the song choices (2012 and Price Tag), save Simple Minds' "Don't You." I felt the final number is very messy and uncomfortable to watch. They also lost me because I was hearing percussion in the background.
Luckily enough, the good points of Pitch Perfect are strong enough to forgive the weaker points. Other than the very enjoyable song numbers, Rebel Wilson as I mentioned above saves the movie from unhinging itself into a disaster. Her Fat Amy is one of the most confident / clueless / sassy supporting characters in recent film viewing memory--a little less scary eccentric than Bridesmaids' Megan, but no less fluffy. Her comic timing and improvs are spot-on, more often than not saving the movie from being too flat. The interaction between the cast members are also enjoyable to watch, as if something funny is always about to happen when two characters talk about something, Chloe and Aubrey for instance take a capella so seriously that they have to use the prefix "a ca" in some words / expressions (i.e., aca-scuse me?) like a pair of sorority girls with a secret vocabulary.
Overall, I'd be repeating myself in summarizing this movie. The pros outweighs the cons and it's not a perfect movie, just one trying to make everything perfect and delightful. It's a crowd-pleaser, it would behave like one. And in that goal, I think Pitch Perfect achieved its reason for existence.
Smashed
I don't watch Glee and I'm not very fond of musicals or any movie that involves singing to portray a certain event or scene (the last of this kind that I liked was Chicago, or Muppets if that counts), but with Pitch Perfect, it worked for some reason, maybe because you can skip (fastforward on DVD) the singing and the story would still be in tact, but for some reason, I liked the musical numbers well enough to not get bored by them. There is something in the a capella performances that worked. Or maybe simply because the numbers were not so over the top and that they conform with the overall tone of the movie. It kept pitch, so to speak--demoting the song numbers to practice scenes and competition scenes made it un-cheesy. I in fact look forward to the song numbers in some cases because the numbers were that good.
And speaking of great musical numbers, the one that got me the most is the 30-second audition piece from Beca (Kendrick) where she did a verse from Lulu and the Lampshades' "You're Gonna Miss Me" with a paper cup as her background instrument. Her lilting voice and the simplicity of the paper cup and clap trick made this scene her brightest moment in the movie that when she finished the verse, you wanna go and cheer for more. And if anything, this number quashed my feeling that Kendrick can't deliver. She actually can sing. I've seen her in a number of films, but I've never liked her this much. I've a conflicted opinion of her in Up in the Air, though I liked her better in 50/50, but I'd say I like her most here, especially paired with Skylar Astin--whom she shares a great on-screen chemistry with.
The film, however, is not without foibles. Like one of its characters, Aubrey (Anna Camp), Pitch Perfect tries to be, well, perfect. Like most feel-good movies, it aims to make everything and everyone in its storyline happy and tends to tackle the supporting cast on a shallow level. I would have loved a bit more depth from the characters, but the movie may not have enough time to do so effectively. For instance, there is some depth in Aubrey's character development, the group's leader and little Ms. Perfect. Her father was a military official, who made sure she's disciplined and such. Glimpses of their background history are absent for the other characters, something that Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) could've benefited from and would've made her more lovable. Instead, we are only allowed access to the present state of some characters, making them less lovable and a tad less relatable.
As the film progresses, the more formulaic side of Pitch Perfect shows. Things get resolved rather easily in the end, rather than a gradual progression from being uptight and traditional into the hip group the Barden Bellas ended up becoming. I don't believe any group would have been able to change its style and manage to knock the crowd out, with what, like a month of preparation at most? And, yes, that final number of the Bellas felt like a mess. I particularly disliked the song choices (2012 and Price Tag), save Simple Minds' "Don't You." I felt the final number is very messy and uncomfortable to watch. They also lost me because I was hearing percussion in the background.
Luckily enough, the good points of Pitch Perfect are strong enough to forgive the weaker points. Other than the very enjoyable song numbers, Rebel Wilson as I mentioned above saves the movie from unhinging itself into a disaster. Her Fat Amy is one of the most confident / clueless / sassy supporting characters in recent film viewing memory--a little less scary eccentric than Bridesmaids' Megan, but no less fluffy. Her comic timing and improvs are spot-on, more often than not saving the movie from being too flat. The interaction between the cast members are also enjoyable to watch, as if something funny is always about to happen when two characters talk about something, Chloe and Aubrey for instance take a capella so seriously that they have to use the prefix "a ca" in some words / expressions (i.e., aca-scuse me?) like a pair of sorority girls with a secret vocabulary.
Overall, I'd be repeating myself in summarizing this movie. The pros outweighs the cons and it's not a perfect movie, just one trying to make everything perfect and delightful. It's a crowd-pleaser, it would behave like one. And in that goal, I think Pitch Perfect achieved its reason for existence.
My verdict:
A laugh out loud time with enjoyable musical numbers and a memorable performance from Fat Amy. It's a crowd-pleaser and if you are not in the best of moods, it would cheer you up for sure. I'd say
3.9 out of 5 stars. Passed and recommended.
Author's Note: Pitch Perfect is a Robinson's Malls exclusive movie.
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