I’ve been excited about Pitch Perfect for a while now. As a (not so secret) ‘gleek’ and a fan of everything musical-y, this films right up my street. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the cinema was the range of people who were watching the film. The premise of the movie, which genre wise would be a ‘musical comedy’ and has been compared to chick-flicks like Mean Girls and Bring It On, is not something you’d expect to see a single middle aged man watching; nor a group of teenage boys. It was at this point I realized there was something a bit special about Pitch Perfect.
The film starts and sets up the premise of collegiate a cappella, and our ‘heroines’ the Barden Bellas (the first ever all female group to reach the finals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella). Through an embarrassing, Bridesmaids-esque turn of events they end up loosing to their rivals (and coincidentally fellow Barden University group, who are even more coincidentally an all male group) the Treble Makers. Fast forward a year and you meet Beca, a Barden freshman who laughs at the idea of a cappella groups and wants nothing more than to move the Los Angeles and produce music. So obviously she ends up joining the traditional Bellas and being their saving grace.
Yes the film is completely cliched, and at times ridiculous; but this is why it works. It pokes fun at it’s self and does everything in a witty way. Although, of course, there have been numerous comparisons to Glee, the only similarity is the fact there is music. Unlike Glee, Pitch Perfect is light hearted, even poking fun at the idea of ‘misfit teens singing through their problems’. And the music itself is great. The arrangements are harmoniously interesting and the choreography of each performance was tight. The flashy musical numbers were a joy to watch, and although they were at times completely over the top, that’s the point of them.
It’s worth mentioning Rebel Wilson’s performance as ‘Fat Amy’, who is constantly hilarious. Each line is wittier than the previous, she’s arguably the one who carries the film (not that the other actors aren’t great, it’s just Wilson is brilliant).
There were some scenes I could’ve done without (the scene where they fight over a pitch pipe) where they resort the juvenile humour; but overall this was a great film. It may not have covered any huge philosophical issues but it wasn’t supposed to. It’s fun, lighthearted and full of great musical performances. Definitely worth a watch.
Pitch Perfect (2012), directed by Jason Moore, is distributed in the UK by Universal Pictures, Certificate 12A.
