Pitch Perfect 2
Directed by: Elizabeth Banks
Written by: Kay Cannon - Based on the Book by Mickey Rapkin
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam Devine, Katey Sagal, Anna Camp, Ben Platt, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Chrissie Fit, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Flula Borg, Kelley Jakle, Shelley Regner, John Hodgman, Jason Jones, Joe Lo Truglio, Reggie Watts, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks
Comedy/Music - 115 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 13 May 2015
Written by: Kay Cannon - Based on the Book by Mickey Rapkin
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam Devine, Katey Sagal, Anna Camp, Ben Platt, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Chrissie Fit, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Flula Borg, Kelley Jakle, Shelley Regner, John Hodgman, Jason Jones, Joe Lo Truglio, Reggie Watts, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks
Comedy/Music - 115 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 13 May 2015
I can’t call the first Pitch Perfect film from 2012 a guilty pleasure. There is no guilt attached; I unexpectedly liked that comedy about collegiate a capella groups. Yes, particular scenes were forced and the supporting characters were stock and one-dimensional except for the breakthrough performance of Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy. What is not surprising is the sequel, Pitch Perfect 2, remains funny, but not as creative as its predecessor. The story is overly familiar of a group trying to become something they’re not before remembering to be themselves. The supporting cast remains one-sided and even Fat Amy comes off as a bit redundant. Pitch Perfect 2’s saviors are unexpected, phenomenal celebrity cameos and its steady stream of impactful one-liners. I am happy to see these characters again, but they are close to becoming that not so new friend who is starting to get on your nerves.
Stepping up her involvement, Elizabeth Banks shifts over to director this time around from being one of the first film’s producers. She catapults the Barden Bellas out of their cloistered university setting launching them onto the world stage, first at the Kennedy Center in front of the President and then onto to Copenhagen for the World a capella championships. Disaster strikes in front of the President in a particularly uncovered fashion threatening to derail the Bellas as a group and might even lead to their disbandment. Their only hope is to win the World Championships, a feat no American group has ever achieved mostly due to the precision and talent of the Germans.
Stepping up her involvement, Elizabeth Banks shifts over to director this time around from being one of the first film’s producers. She catapults the Barden Bellas out of their cloistered university setting launching them onto the world stage, first at the Kennedy Center in front of the President and then onto to Copenhagen for the World a capella championships. Disaster strikes in front of the President in a particularly uncovered fashion threatening to derail the Bellas as a group and might even lead to their disbandment. Their only hope is to win the World Championships, a feat no American group has ever achieved mostly due to the precision and talent of the Germans.
The German super a capella group, Das Sound Machine, are leather clad behemoths who tower over the miniscule Bellas. Suddenly, the Bellas morph from champion collegiate singers to underdogs at the bottom of the aca-pyramid. Furthermore, the group’s inner cohesion starts to fray as most of the girls approach graduation. The group’s creative force and central figure, Beca (Anna Kendrick, 2014’s Into the Woods), interns at a record label and shows promise. The scenes at the label are a pro forma ‘fish out of water learns to swim’ character arc but they produce a few quality laughs at the expense of oblivious interns and hipster culture.
Perhaps the movie’s biggest laughs come from the most welcome returnees, announcers John Smith and Gail Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger (John Michael Higgins, 2014’s A Million Way to Die in the West, and Banks, 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1). Even though the play-by-play calling and criticizing duo are direct knock-offs of the commentators from Best in Show and Dodgeball: An Underdog Story, they remain hysterical. John is an astounding misogynist and racist while Gail is his last name collecting sidekick. Fat Amy had the best lines from the first film, but as her comedy is more physical slapstick this time, John wins the line battle with zingers describing a capella girls as too ugly to be cheerleaders and explains away their disasters as a warning of why girls should not attend college.
As soon as I noticed one of the new group members was a Latina and the new archrivals were German, I had no doubt we would get an onslaught of stereotypical asides. Flo (Chrissie Fit) is the Central American newbie who generates her own laughs by joking about jumping over the border, having dysentery, and every other Latin American stereotype known to man. The Germans, while not as egregious, get their own ongoing riffs with every blonde hair, blue eyed joke in the book. Their female leader, known only as the Kommissar (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), is an ubermensch of the highest order while she intimidates and awkwardly fascinates Beca. Das Sound Machine has an astounding 18 members, maintain clockwork precision and unshakeable confidence, and just overwhelm the outclassed Bellas.
While I enjoy the over-the-top comedy, most of Pitch Perfect’s audience will go for the a cappella song and dance routines. The music department does not disappoint; the songs are recent and include more electronica and hip hop than the first go around’s tried and true standards. All the voices you hear are the actual actor’s voices; however, to produce the quality track you’re listening to, their voices are studio recordings with straight lip synching in the film. There is an original song called “Flashlight” thrown in which is newcomer Emily’s (Hallie Steinfeld) side plot which consistently grinds the performances to a halt and by the end becomes a song to endure instead of enjoy.
Pitch Perfect 2 is not as fresh, light, or as delightful as the first film. It’s certainly not a franchise killer and I even recommend it, but any possible third installment will have to inject a lot of fresh blood to keep it alive. Rebel Wilson’s performance remains the most magnetic of the large cast and whether you go for the laughs, the singing, or because your girlfriend makes you, I have a hunch you will walk out of the theater realizing you just had a good time for the past two hours – even if you were secretly rooting for Das Sound Machine.
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