Yet another singing movie has hit the big screen, but this one will never last! With films such as High School Musical, Hairspray, and The Muppets, the last thing the media needs is another cheesy motion picture just like all the others. Pitch Perfect, directed by Jason Moore, proves doubters wrong. Pitch Perfect is most similar to FOX’s hit TV show, Glee, with a few twists. Starring in this hilarious film are Anna Kendrick (Beca), Skylar Austin (Jesse), and Rebel Wilson, aka, “Fat Amy”.
Barden college, home of the Barden Bellas, an all-girl a cappella group, must recreate their group after their explosively disgusting finish to last year’s final. But this time, they don’t have the most attractive bunch. Aubrey (Brittany Snow) and Chloe (Anna Camp) are the seniors in charge of recruiting new members. They are not pleased with the somewhat of a unique group of girls left to sing in this year’s competition. They come in all different shapes and sizes, but truly have the voices to sing. Beca, an aspiring DJ, only joins the club because her father makes her a deal: if she joins at least one club, he will take her to California to produce “real” music. In addition, the group must compete with the Treble Makers, another musical group from Barden, made up of all boys.
One of the members of the Treble Makers is Jesse, who has not left Beca alone since the first day she arrived at Barden. Whether it was singing to her in a cab or forcing her to watch the end of The Breakfast Club with him, he was always trying to get near her. In fact, they both had a part-time job at the college’s own radio station, where Jesse was in somewhat of a competition to “win” Beca over with Luke (Freddie Stroma); the smooth-talking and cute guy in charge of the radio station. Unfortunately for Jesse, the Barden Bellas made a strict rule that no one in the group may have relations with any of the Treble Makers, so he will just have to wait.
The Bellas first attends a “Riff off”, where they battle with other groups to sing their best. After a few good lines, the Bellas are eliminated, meaning that the Treble Makers are added to the competition, causing more tension between the two groups.
Driving to the Regionals, the Bellas have fun singing ‘Party in The USA’ on the bus, but also have a few issues when the bus runs out of fuel, forcing them to drive with the Treble Makers. In the Regionals, the Barden Bellas do their usual, old-school mash up of the songs The Sign/Eternal Flame/Turn the Beat Around, which they sing three times in the movie, and is the song that they used in last year’s final when Chloe choked. Each time they perform, they get increasingly better, but in the Regionals, they barely place as the Sockapellas to qualify for State finals.
In the State Finals, The Bellas sing the song again, but Beca, realizing that the crowd and the judges are getting bored of it, tries to mash it up with another song. This completely downgrades the performance, for none of Beca’s friends know why she is trying to sing a different song, and try to cover it up. Basically, the Bellas become a laughing stock because of this embarrassing performance, just like last year. The Treble Makers take the State Trophy, and the Bellas do not even qualify. The Bellas finally break at this point, and a huge brawl arises. In the end, Beca throws the trophy through a window, the police are called, her father is notified, and worst of all, she is kicked out of the Bellas.
The Barden Bellas split ways, since they are no longer in the race for a win, but, to a surprising scandal concerning one of the other teams, the Bellas are notified that they may now compete in Finals. Chloe tells all the others the news, and Aubrey even tells Beca, who was working full time at the Barden radio station during spring break. When Beca shows up at the Bellas rehearsal, there is a little bit of arguing within the group. They agree to sing more twenty-first century songs, and will sing a piece made by Beca in the Finals. Meanwhile, the Trebles suffer a large loss as their leader; Bumper (Adam DeVine) leaves them to go work in Los Angeles. Jesse soon takes over in charge of the group.
In the Finals, the intensity level of competition increases. The Treble Makers perform astoundingly by singing a “Bright Lights Bigger City/Magic” mashup. Next, comes the Barden Bellas and all the attention is on them. Can they bounce back from last year’s flop? Do they really have the talent? The Bellas sing “Price Tag/Don’t You/Give Me Everything”, which absolutely blows the crowd away.
The movie ends with students lining up next year for auditions, and Beca deciding to stay at college with her friends.
The character development and musical talent in Pitch Perfect are really what bring the movie together. The movie is rated PG-13 for sexual material, language, and drug reference, and is playing at a movie theater near you. The Pitch Perfect Soundtrack is available on ITunes for $9.99, and it’s an album to get as soon as possible.