Before we start, let’s address the key question: Do you need to have seen the original Pitch Perfect to watch this?
Hell, no! (but more on that later).
I hadn’t seen the surprise box office hit of 2012. It didn’t matter, because it was clear from about the fourth minute you know exactly what is going on and where the movie is headed.
Here’s the story of Pitch Perfect 2. ‘The Bellas’, an a capella faction headed by Anna Kendrick’s Beca, are now three-time US champs. The stakes are raised in the opening scene where they are blacklisted due to an unfortunate ‘wardrobe malfunction’ while performing at The President’s Birthday Dinner.
What comes next is your usual high school romp about the anxieties of growing up, played off by a cast with good chemistry and some wicked vocals. The film’s standout scenes come in the expertly choreographed sing offs and showdowns where we get a Grease-meets-Glee kind of vibe.
The cast’s rapport as a fraternity is charming, and it makes for some quirky situations and funny scenes. Luckily enough it doesn’t rest on one funny actor to deliver its pay offs, with more than a few members stamping their mark on the film. At times it could be Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine’s plainly weird relationship, at others the politically incorrect commentators or even a well-placed cameo. There are more than a handful of laugh-out-loud moments.
Given The Bellas have a reputation to mend, they decide the best way is to enter the World Championship of A-Capella singing in Copenhagen with their ambition being to take down the champs, the far superior Germans ‘Das Sound Machine’.
This all soon unravels. Beca must hide her internship at a record label for fears she will be scorned for abandoning the group; all of whom each facing the realities of adulthood as its their last year at school. One exception to this situation is the newcomer, Hailee Stenfield (mostly well known from True Grit) who is the giggly freshman keen to leave a lasting impression with the Bellas – and she does, especially with the audience.
It is hard to critique what is for all intentions a ‘fun’ movie. A zany group of girls in a niche albeit extremely competitive world, who each deliver sometimes witty and clever lines with sometimes jokes leaving you face-palming in their lameness.
Every cliché is here: the token Hispanic, the token lesbian, the token overweight, the token ‘dumb’ blonde, the token crazy, etc. Each role came right out of a comedy movie playbook.
However, put the whole package together, and Pitch Perfect 2 a formula that works. The singing is hugely impressive and it is well directed by Elizabeth Banks. As a 24-year-old man watching this movie I felt no shame – it’s a film for all genders and ages. I look forward to the inevitable ‘Where are they now? Do they still have what it takes?’ three-quel in a few years.
So, to finish where we started, I liked it enough to go watch the first one! Enjoy!
