Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Skylar Astin, Alexis Knapp, Adam DeVine, Ester Dean

Director: Jason Moore

Genre: Comedy, Music

Rating: A

"Nothing makes a girl feel more like a woman than a man who sings like a boy."

 I was really excited about this movie.  I figure it would be a lame comedy that I would love, just another one of those bad movies that you watch and really enjoy but know are bad.  I was really wrong: this ended up being a really amazing movie that I absolutely loved, and despite the fact that it was a cheesy comedy it was also legitimately good.  I laughed so hard during Pitch Perfect, despite the film's inclusion of period moments of bodily fluid humour.  I'm not sure if I've said it before, but I'll say it now: I hate humour that involves some sort of human waste or bodily fluid.

Pitch Perfect follows Beca (Kendrick), an anti-social music lover who dreams of being a music producer but is being forced by her father to attend Barden College, where he works.  While at first she fulfils the anti-social requirements eventually she is pushed into joining the Barden Bellas, one of the campus' four acapella singing groups - other groups include the Bellas' primary rival, the all male Treble Makers, lead by Bumper (DeVine).  The Bellas are lead by seniors Aubrey (Camp), who believes that the group can win it all using traditional methods, and Chloe (Snow), who's more inclined to make some changes.  Rounding out things is Treble Maker and fellow freshman Jesse (Astin), who very quickly takes an interest in Beca.

The thing I liked most about Pitch Perfect was that this movie knew exactly what it was and just went with it.  It was a lame comedy and never once tried to be anything other than that.  There were a few more dramatic moments - notably when it came to Beca's relationship with her father - but for the most part it was one liner after one liner. Rebel Wilson and Elizabeth Banks in particular were awesome, with just about everything that the two of them said being a joke.  What I really liked about the humour, though, was that there were a lot of moments where the joke completely took me by surprise and left me thinking "wait, what'd they just say?" then laughing once it sunk in - and I wasn't the only person in the theatre reacting like that.  The other thing that worked about it was the fact that even in the more dramatic moments, or even just the singing, they did a lot of cutaways to other jokes.  Elizabeth Banks' character, very minor role, is one of the commentators of the competitions and one of my favourite moments is a cutaway to her and the other commentator rocking out to the song.  It was just perfect.

One thing that has the potential to take away from the overall film is the fact that a lot of the characters fill a stereotype of some sort.  I found that it worked and I didn't personally need more development on any of the characters, but I'm sure that others might have a problem with this. Jason Moore took some stereotypical people and had fun with them, and I applaud it.