PITCH PERFECT is one of those clever, quiet little movies that creep up on you and win you over before you know it. When I wound up at an early screening of PITCH PERFECT, my intentions were simple–watch the first 5 minutes and when the lobby was clear, sneak into EXPENDABLES 2. Ironically, the first 5 minutes of PITCH are so funny, shocking and outrageous, it kept me in my seat.
Barden College freshman Beca (Anna Kendrick) gets suckered into joining the school’s female a cappella group, the Barden Bellas, University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school’s all-girl singing group. They prepare for the long journey to Lincoln Center, where they plan to take on barden’s all male competitors (*Led by Adam DeVine of WORKAHOLICS, as the vain, fey Bumper–whose dream is to be a backup singer for John Mayer and who concludes his a cappella performances with a rap-style mic drop..
While that doesn’t sound like much on paper, it’s an inventive comedy, totally stolen by Rebel Wilson as fat Amy (*She explains she goes with ‘fat amy’ because she knows that’s what ‘bitches’ are going to call her behind her back!). As the profane, insightful and blunt Fat Amy, Wilson literally runs away with the film. She also played a great Juggalo with DeVine on WORKAHOLICS.
TV Director Jason Moore makes a confident transition into film. He patterns PITCH after Peyton Reed’s BRING IT ON, making a hip, funny film on a subject that shouldn’t be cool at all. 30 ROCK writer Kay Cannon brings in a lot of snark and laughs with the quirky characters, no matter how small–from Beca’s angry Asian roommate to her father, who doesn’t know how to deal with her moody offspring and a STAR WARS nerd, who comes in for some loving abuse.
Elizabeth Banks produced and cleverly gives herself a funny supporting role as the a capella commentator (like Jason Bateman in DODGEBALL). She’s quite amusing with her increasingly weirder asides,
The music is catchy and not forced down your throat GLEE-style.