PITCH PERFECT (Universal)
Director: Jason Moore
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow
I normally give musical films a wide berth. The idea of people breaking into full song – or, in the case of Pitch Perfect, giving us acapella takes on pop hits – makes my skin crawl. It’s the same reason I can’t watch Glee.
Colour me surprised, then, that I enjoyed Pitch Perfect so much. It’s as funny as anything else I’ve seen this year, it has a self-aware but sickly sweet storyline, it benefits from a collection of excellent performances from a cast of (relative) unknowns, and it has one of the weirdest vomit scenes I’ve ever witnessed.
Anna Kendrick plays Beca, a reluctant college freshman and aspiring DJ, who is forced into college by her father and pressured into joining a campus group.
She falls in with an all-girl acapella singing group named The Barden Bellas, who are the laugh of the school thanks to a disastrous performance in a recent competition and an ongoing rivalry with all-male group The Treblemakers, and their douchebag leader Bumper (Adam DeVine).
Beca helps the Bellas, and their rag-tag collection of singers – including Aubrey (Anna Camp) and Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) – as they try to take down the Treblemakers on their way to a national acapella championship.
It sounds formulaic, and it absolutely is. But despite the predictability of it all, it works. Part of that is due to a constant stream of cultural references and clever song choices; at various points, the Bellas tackle Blackstreet’s No Diggity and Simple Minds’ Don’t You Forget About Me. It doesn’t simply rely on chart-topping hits.
But a larger part is due to the performances of Kendrick and Wilson. Kendrick has the requisite sweetness to carry the lead role, and enjoys an easy rapport with male lead Skylar Astin. Wilson, meanwhile, steals every scene she’s in on her way to a breakout performance.
Pitch Perfect is almost, for want of a better word, pitch perfect in its execution. This is a funny and charming film, far more entertaining than it sounds – and definitely worth your time.
Video Quality: 1080p High-Definition Widescreen 1.85:1.
Audio Quality: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; DTS Digital Surround 5.1; Dolby Digital 2.0.
Special Features: Starships: The Pitch Perfect music video, Deleted and Extended scenes, Line-O-Ramas featurette, Backstage at Barden featurette, On The Set: Burrito Drive-By!, and commentary with director Jason Moore and producers Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman.
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