Pitch Perfect movie poster
B-
Our Rating
Pitch Perfect movie poster

Pitch Perfect Review

Now available on Blu-ray and DVD (Buy on Amazon)

It was only a matter of time. Following in the wake of Fox's hit TV show "Glee," Pitch Perfect is a movie about musically neurotic teenagers and/or college students who battle one another for musical supremacy. Original? No. Entertaining? Yes. Funny? Sort of.

Pitch Perfect stars Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick as Beca, a too-cool-for-school girl who reluctantly joins an all-girls singing group known as The Bellas. The group is led by the stereotypically domineering Aubrey (Anna Camp), whose fear of change has resulted in an out-of-date format and underperforming results at the annual competition. Beca injects some much-needed energy into The Bellas.

The movie has a little bit of everything. There's a romantic subplot involving Kendrick and co-star Skylar Astin, who I'm pretty sure was gay in an earlier version of the script. There is some conflict with Beca and her father - it was uninteresting enough that I already forgot what it was about - and naturally the girls quarrel with one another over a variety of things. There are sing-offs, and then there's Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, who provides comic relief. Hana Mae Lee delivers the best line in the movie, something like, "I light fires to feel good about myself."

Pitch Perfect is mindlessly entertaining and features some engaging musical sequences. I've never watched Glee, but I imagine that fans of the show will enjoy this movie. It has some funny scenes and a surprising edge at times; one  of the most memorable sequences involves one of the characters puking all over the place and the girls proceeding to wrestle in it. Seriously.

Ultimately, though, Pitch Perfect is an unremarkable entry in the comedy genre. Fun, yes, but far from hilarious. It has bursts of cleverness, but ultimately it's just another movie about a bunch of unrealistic teens engaged in a cheesy musical competition. This subgenre has been around for decades in some form or another. Pitch Perfect presents nothing new.

Still, for what it is, Pitch Perfect is harmless entertainment. You could do  better,  but you could do  a lot worse.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.

B-
Our Rating