Film review - Pitch Perfect

When I saw the trailer for Pitch Perfect, I got all excited. Though it is transparently a Glee rip off, it looked funny and bitchy and it stars Anna Kendrick (little miss actressy actress who is so amazing in 50/50 and Up In the Air – I love her!), Rebel Wilson (the strangely-Australian one in Bridesmaids – I love her!) and Adam DeVine (writer/creator/star of Workaholics, my new favourite stoner comedy series – I love him!). I even did a happy little dance in my cinema seat when it ended.

I should have quit while I was ahead.

This really is one of those films where the only good bits are in the trailer. The full-length cinema cut of Pitch Perfect contains exactly 27% of the wit of a season one Glee episode (which is equal to 43% of the wit of a season three episode).

The film follows college freshman Beca (Kendrick) as she is forced to join the uptight Barden Bellas a cappella singing group.  Now, Beca takes her music seriously, and doesn’t like the Bellas’ attitude and dreary, out-of-touch song choices. Can the Bellas change their image with the help of Beca and win Nationals? I think they just might.

My problem with Pitch Perfect isn’t that it is predictable, or even that it is silly (though it is both these things). My problems are:

1. Beca is extremely unlikeable, moping around for no reason and being horrible to everyone around her because she is “artistic” and “deep”. She is supposed to be cool and have a serious taste in music, but she seems to like only David Guetta and La Roux, neither of whom are cool. Someone must have explained contemporary music wrongly to the screenwriter.
2. Almost all of the humour fell flat for me because the director just didn’t get me onto his side. Vomit slapstick is not my favourite comedy style, but it seems to really tickle director Jason Moore. And the film also makes fun of Asian people much more than you would expect for a mainstream comedy from whatever-we-decide-to-call-this-decade (the Teens?). Usually I try to give people the benefit of the doubt about things like this, but it seemed mean-spirited and lazy in this case. 
3. A lot of Beca’s romance storyline is predicated on you believing that The Breakfast Club has the best ending in cinema history. And that you could understand why from watching just the ending without seeing the rest of the film. And that characters who were born in approximately 1993 could ever think these things. 

While there are some funny moments and lines (mostly from Rebel Wilson), this is a waste of a lot of talented people’s time.