Movie Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

The movie stars Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp and Rebel Wilson.

To tell you the truth, this is a movie I really had no interest in taking the time to watch, mostly because it didn't sound like something I would enjoy. In fact, the only reason I ended up getting the film through Netflix this week is my wife skated to one of the songs during our daughters' last ice show and really wanted to see it as a result. As it turns out, this movie was considerably better than I was expecting it to be.

I think the thing that really surprised me about this movie is the thought that went into the whole a cappella storyline. If this movie was just a bunch of teams performing on stage, I think it would get boring very fast. The clever behind-the-scenes stuff, however, ranging from the different personalities to a really cool sing-off between various groups kept it entertaining.

In particular, I loved the dramedy between the group's leader, Aubrey (Camp) and the rest of the girls. In fact, Aubrey, herself, was very entertaining because, while there were plenty of reasons to get frustrated with her and dislike her, it was also easy to feel a bit sorry for her because, had it not been for her surprise projectile vomit during her solo, her team would have won the previous year. As a result, her obsession was somewhat understandable, especially since she paid her dues.

Of course, the most memorable part of this had to be the musical performances, which were all very entertaining to watch. I loved how the writers decided to put the girls' team up against real competition rather than just giving them one rival. In fact, my only real complaint about the musical numbers is there really should have been more of them.

As is the case with most movies in the comedy genre, a good chunk of the film did prove to be somewhat predictable, this included the love story between Beca (Kendrick) and Jesse (Astin), which followed the same tired storyline (girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, boy and girl have a fight, boy and girl get back together) as most romantic comedies. Fortunately, the jokes and music more than made up for that.

As I said, I didn't think I would enjoy this movie. However, after seeing it, I was definitely impressed. In fact, I just added the sequel to my watch list.

My Grade: A