Devin Southard

Every once in a while, a movie comes out with a trailer that gives me a good laugh and the sinking feeling that what I just saw was all the film’s funniest parts. To this day, that sinking feeling has yet to do me wrong, and Pitch Perfect is a perfect, recent example of its accuracy.

Thanks to Ryan Murphy and his Glee club, there’s been a disturbing surge in interest in the creation of acapella groups. Pitch Perfect takes that trend and drops it in the world of competitive collegiate acapella groups.  The all female acapella group of Barton University, the Barton Bellas, has made it to the acapella championship at Lincoln Center.  After the next-in-line leader Aubrey (Anna Camp) has a very unfortunate manifestation of stage fright, the Bellas become the laughing stock of the acapella world, forcing Aubrey to deviate from the beach body ready criterion that is normally required, to essentially any girl who auditions.  Enter Beca (Anna Kendrick), a freshman with a “smells like teen spirit” attitude (and clothing to match) as well as dreams of going to L.A. to create music.  After being accosted in the communal shower by the groups’ second-in-command, Chloe (Brittany Snow), Beca joins the acapella group along with a diverse array of 11 other girls.

What looks like a potentially hilarious film is pretty flat with a few surprise chuckles here and there, due largely in part to Rebel Wilson who played Fat Amy trying to carry the entire movie with some good jokes.  This might have been more successful if nine out ten them had not been put in the trailer.  Even with Wilson’s great comedic timing and rising popularity, she barely made the movie tolerable.

Anna Kendrick’s Beca did absolutely nothing for the film by being about as uninteresting as her “mixes” that she obsessively works on (bet you won’t hear any of those on the soundtrack).  Add that to the age-old tension between Aubrey, who insists on singing a disturbingly boring version of “I Saw the Sun” (even though literally everyone in the acapella world tells her to do something different), and Beca who wants to do something different and exciting.  Sprinkle in quite possibly the most predictable yet anti-climactic ending ever and you have an even sadder version of Glee, except with more techno.  All that being said, just watch Glee.  It’s a lot less depressing and it’s free.  On the infamous Cinedork.com/Pretentious Film Majors 5-star scale, I give Pitch Perfect 2.5 out of tune notes out of 5.

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