Pitch Perfect

Elisa’s Pitch Perfect Review

The girl-powered Glee-fueled ensemble cast of Pitch Perfect seemed like the ultimate payback after a summer of superheroes and action flicks.  I was skeptical the “funnier than Bridesmaids” hype would fall flat and that once again, the best lines were in the previews.  However, I had no idea how funny  watching  a seemingly hot blonde projectile-vomiting could be until Pitch Perfect.

 Anna Kendrick (known to many in her role as Jessica in the Twilight franchise, and to those of us who are not vampire believers, as "that girl"in the George Clooney film Up in the Air) stars as brooding and unhappy college student Beca at the fictional Barden University.  Forced to attend college for free (her father is a professor at Barden) instead of following her dream to be a Club DJ in Los Angeles.  Beca is less-than-happy to be a college student instead of spinning with Samantha Ronson.  Her father bargains with her to stay in college, join some clubs and make an effort.  If Beca still hates school, he will finance the move to LA.

 In a “Porkies”-esque dorm shower scene, Beca "runs into" Chloe, co-captain of The Bellas, an all-ladies a capella group at Barden. Chloe is convinced Beca's shower singing is talent enough to help the faltering Bellas. Thinking this will appease her father and get her a ticket to LA, Beca accepts the invitation.

 Turns out, Beca enjoys singing and using her DJ mash-up skills to transform The Bellas'  uptight “Ace of Base” style into a happy Breakfast Club sing-a-long. For The Breakfast Club purists, there is quit a bit of the Saturday School favorite referenced in the movie, not in a complete rip-off of the classic in the style of the films Easy A, or Perfect Score, but more of a tribute to the overly-praised John Hughes film.      Side Note—Was I the last person on Earth to know the “Breakfast Club” de facto theme song, “Don’t you (Forget About Me)” was originally offered to Billy Idol? Actually, it was first offered to The Fixx, then Bryan Ferry, and then Billy Idol. All declined, and the song was a huge hit for the Scottish punks Simple Minds.

 While there are many obvious comparisons to “Glee” this is not a college cast rip-off of the Fox show. Thankfully, the singing was kept to scenes for a cappella rehearsal, except for one tragic bus scene, and not to move the plot along. Rebel Wilson, known as the lazy wonky British roommate in Bridesmaids ups the raunchy factor as “Fat Amy”and saves the movie from being another Hollywood formula. She kept the husband laughing, and he seemed pretty interested in the shower scene. There was no eye-rolling, or loud sighs. Ladies, this is a movie your husband will like, and you can leverage

 for your next movie choice--i.e. "Honey, you liked Pitch Perfect, remember? You will love Les Miserables."

Ben's Review of Pitch Perfect

So after a summer of forcing my wife to sit through flicks about superheroes, aliens, coke sniffing teddy bears, and scary fairy tales, I was informed it was pay back time in the form of Pitch Perfect.  Pitch Perfect, looking to capitalize on the success of shows like “Glee” and the NBC powerhouse “Smash” presents the trials and tribulations of Glee competitions at the college level and what is required to compete.  Having to watch this movie looked suspiciously like all kinds of come upance for forcing my wife to wait in line for tickets to the Avengers or watch 14 hours of college football last Saturday.  But would I run out screaming half way through or possibly want to go camping with one of my best friends in the mountains without our wives…. not that there is anything wrong with that! 

Back to Pitch Perfect.  The movie opens with the finals of the collegiate a cappella competition where the Barden Bellas of Barden University are set to take the stage and attempt to out sing their rival Barden University group from Barden the Treblemakers.  Just when it looked like the Barden Bellas might finally win, a very unfortunate accident occurs and the Bellas will have to wait another year to try to win the national a cappella competition.  Fast forward to the next year where the Bellas are attempting to recruit new members during freshman orientation. Recruiting however, is more difficult the in previous years because of the manner in which the Bellas lost during the a cappella competition and the way the Bella’s  previously treated several people who wanted to join their group.  This forces the Bellas to abandon trying to find pretty girls who can sing and start looking for anyone who can possibly carry a tune.  Enter Beca, played by Anna Kendrick, an aspiring DJ who has been forced by her professor father to go to Barden University instead of pursuing her dreams of being a DJ in LA because she can attend Barden for free.  Beca is a wiz at mashing up tracks but never really had an interest in singing.  However, Bella member Chloe, played by everyone’s favorite wall flower Brittany Snow, thinks that Beca has the ability to sing and bring a new look to the Bellas.  The Bellas also recruit a group of less than aesthetically perfect singers to round out the group, including Tasmanian transfer student Fat Amy, played by Bridesmaids scene stealer Rebel Wilson, to try and win the a cappella national champion.  But will this rag group be able to come together and pull off the seemingly impossible? Can the Bellas scoff in the face of tradition and bring a new feel to a cappella singing?  Can a movie about a singing competition really take an hour of fifty-two minutes to play out?  Tom Selleck is an attractive man….

Guys, has your girlfriend and/or wife left the room?  Really? Good.  This is the perfect movie to fake out your wife with to make up for any sort of hunting expo, monster truck rally, or fantasy football draft party that you forced her to go in the past year.  First, this movie is not a musical.  Let me repeat this for you, Pitch Perfect is not a musical.  Second, this movie has a very good sense of humor about itself in that all of the characters realize that a cappella competitions are not cool and are in fact pretty ridiculous.  Think of this movie as Major League meets Best in Show.  Third, this movie has actresses that are legitimately hilarious.  Most movies rely on smartass component to get their female characters over by having some woman who has runway model looks making snarky sarcastic comments instead of truly being funny.  Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, and scene stealing Hana Mae Lee as the soft spoken Lilly are self deprecating and laugh out loud funny.  Great, albeit brief appearance by Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins really move this movie along.  The idea for Pitch Perfect is not new but Pitch Perfect does a great job presenting the underdog movie in a way that has not been done before and definitely worth the $10.

I give Pitch Perfect 3.8 pitch pipes out of 5.

*Hang in there guys, new Bond, Diehard, Thor, Lone Ranger, and Captain America are all on the way.