TBTS Reviews: Pitch Perfect

When I first saw the trailer for Pitch Perfect, well, I’m not gonna lie… I rolled my eyes so hard I thought I’d lose my contacts lenses inside my head. But since I’m friends with some awesome but truly girly girls, I found myself sitting in a local theater last night, getting ready to get my a cappella on.

Pitch Perfect is not what I was expecting… and at the same time, totally what I was expecting. The trailer sets the stage pretty well: freshman Becca (Anna Kendrick) finds herself roped into an all-girl collegiate a cappella group, the Barden Bellas. The Bellas have a fierce rivalry with the male group, the Treblemakers, who are considered the bad boys of the a cappella world, and the movie ends with the inevitable face-off at the Finals in New York City. I expected Glee on steroids, and was happy that I was wrong.

Anna Kendrick was a nice choice for the lead female role. She plays Becca, the alterna-chick (meaning she wears spikes in her ears and dark nail polish). Becca wants to be a professional DJ and spends her free-time making mashups, which in this world are apparently new and edgy. Through a series of contrivances, she finds herself in the Barden Bellas, a group run by the uptight Aubrey (Anna Camp). Aubrey’s goal is for the Bellas to make it back to the Finals, where they embarrassed themselves last year. Aubrey’s idea of a winning strategy is to stick to songs from the 80s and 90s, with tired choreography and boring costumes. Becca wants to shake things up a bit, but is consistently thwarted by Aubrey, who rules the group with an iron fist. Eventually, of course, Becca proves to be right, and the film ends with the Bellas doing a pretty sweet mashup performance at the Finals and going home with the prize.

There’s a sweet little love story (of course!) between Becca and Jesse, one of the Treblemakers. And this film is really about Becca opening up and learning to let people in. By the end, everyone has grown. There is no envelope-pushing here. But here’s what I liked about this movie: it’s straightforward, it’s genuine, and it’s funny.

The inclusion of Rebel Wilson should have been my first clue that this movie was going to be clever and hilarious. Her performances in Bridesmaids, What To Expect…, and the upcoming Bachelorette have garnered much praise. This woman is funny. Her one-liners are absolutely brilliant, her delivery is spot-on, and she doesn’t shy away from physical comedy. Including her in the cast immediately lent this film a little more street cred than it probably deserves.

Aside from that, the performances are actually pretty great. I was once a Glee fan, and I don’t mind a few musical numbers in my movies. I even downloaded the soundtrack, and it’s pretty cute.

This is just a silly, fun movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It gets in a shot or two at Glee and the subculture that’s grown up around it. It’s the perfect movie to watch with your girlfriends and a bottle of wine, and I guarantee you’ll find yourself laughing and singing along.