Pitch Perfect Review

Considering the overwhelming video game content in the last few posts, I thought I'd switch it up a little by doing a movie review. Today, I'll be reviewing the musical comedy Pitch Perfect directed by Jason Moore, written by Kay Cannon and starring an ensemble cast which includes Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Ben Platt and Adam Devine. Honestly, I went into the movie expecting it to be a movie version of the horrible hit TV series Glee but I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of being a cheap Glee rip-off, Pitch Perfect is actually a fantastic movie featuring brilliant a cappella renditions of songs performed by an extremely talented cast.

The plot follows Barden University freshman Beca (Anna Kendrick) and her experiences with her cohorts in the all-female a capella group, the Barden Bellas, as they compete with their rivals, the Barden Treble-Makers, to win the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). Along the way, strong friendships and relationships are formed as the Bellas stumble from one hilarious situation to the next. With each outrageous situation comes gems of dialogue like “Could you please get your head out of your ass? It's not a hat,” or "You guys are gonna get pitch-slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave," which help to make Pitch Perfect one of my favourite movies of 2012. What makes the movie great is that it resorts to a wide range of comedy from outrageous physical situations to subtle jokes to brick jokes. Each scene is punctuated by a bucketload of laughs with the exception of one or two scenes that are played straight, making this a brilliant piece of comedic filmmaking.

While the writer, Kay Cannon, and director, Jason Moore, deserve a lot of credit for making a great film, praises must also be sung (see what I did there?) for the cast of Pitch Perfect. Anna Kendrick is fantastically subtle as Beca, bringing a lot of warmth to the character as well as being able to deadpan and deliver snarks coolly. Rebel Wilson deserves a huge mention because she is frankly brilliant as Fat Amy, an outrageous Australian who calls herself Fat Amy so "twig bitches don't call her that behind her back," and is also the "best singer in Tasmania ... with teeth." Skylar Astin is also great as the inexplicably nice guy Jesse and delivers great musical performances throughout the film. Brittany Snow also deserves a mention because she is just great as the extremely quirky yet very amiable Chloe. Honestly though, the whole cast is brilliant and each performer excelled in their role, making their characters believable and extremely likeable. However, special mention should be made to John Micheal Higgins and Elizabeth Banks for their brief but side-splittingly funny appearances as the commentators for the ICCAs, delivering more gems like "This number is like an elephant dart to the public's face."

The single most fantastic thing about this film though, is the music. From the great a cappella rendition of the Universal Studios introduction to the improvised musical battle of the riff-offs to the polished performances of the various groups during the ICCAs, Pitch Perfect features awesomely rearranged songs that sound a lot better than their originals, which isn't hard for some songs like Just the Way You Are or Party in the U.S.A, but is quite an achievement for great songs like Since U Been Gone and Don't You (Forget About Me). The remixes produced by Beca on her MacBook (rather obvious product placement, by the way) are also great pieces despite being played for literally 30 seconds.

I do have a few gripes with the movie though. Characters-wise, I'm unsure as to why Beca's dad and Luke, the station manager are actually in the movie. Beca's dad does serve to advance the plot a little but he's not really that important or funny or particularly memorable. Luke is put forward early on in the movie as a possible competitor with Jesse for Beca's affections but just suddenly disappears near the middle of the movie. My other gripes are less with continuity and character development and more with music. One complaint is that some of the music is not long enough such as Chloe and Beca's rendition of Titanium or Beca's remixes because they are just plain awesome. Additionally, I felt that the movie could have showed other groups' performances during the ICCAs to make the film feel more realistic and also to showcase more awesome a cappella songs.

Score = 9/10