"Pitch Perfect"? Yup

"Pitch Perfect" is the most fun I've had at the movies all year and the best girl power movie I've seen in ages. I wasn't expecting much, as I figured from the a capella singing competition angle that this was going to be similar territory to "Glee." I picked the wrong network comedy as a point of comparison. In fact, "Pitch Perfect" was scripted by "30 Rock" veteran Kay Cannon, and shares that show's razor sharp comedic sensibilities and pop-culture verve.

Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) reluctantly begins her freshman year at Barden University. She wants to go to Los Angeles and start producing music, but her father insists she give the college experience a real try. This involves participating in at least one extracurricular, so Beca joins up with the Barden Bellas, the school's all-female a capella group. The Bellas suffered a horrific loss at the finals of the national competition the year prior, and the group's rigid leader, Audrey (Anna Camp), is determined to redeem herself by clawing her way back to the top. Alas, Audrey and her co-leader Chloe (Brittany Snow) are stuck with a motley crew of newcomers including urban-outfitted Cynthia Rose (Ester Dean), extremely soft-spoken Lily (Hana Mae Lee), well-endowed Stacie (Alexis Knapp), and Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). Beca clashes with Audrey immediately by suggesting more contemporary music choices and wardrobes. She also gets friendly with Jesse (Skylar Austin), a member of the Bellas' all-male rivals, the Treblemakers, lead by the uncouth, but musically gifted Bumper (Adam DeVine).

"Pitch Perfect" has a premise that is as old as the hills that are alive with the sound of music. Beca has to bond with the other girls and lead them to victory by rejecting convention and embracing a new and daring approach to a capella. There will be multiple rounds of tense competition, and it's only after the girls have sunk to their lowest point that they'll be able to find the inspiration to power ahead to victory. The nice thing about "Pitch Perfect" is how fully fleshed out and self-aware the writing is. Sure, the plot is old, but that doesn't mean it can't still be a lot of fun. There are lively musical numbers in the film, and they're great, but it's the comedy that's the biggest selling point. It's Audrey demanding a practice regimen that includes cardio, the thinly-veiled disdain between competition commentators played by John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks, and the endless, ridiculous a capella puns. You get a little raunch and a little gross-out humor and a little irony, but not so much that they call attention to themselves. This isn't "Bridesmaids" and it's certainly not "Juno," though you can see the influences of both.

Best of all are the characters and the performances. I've been waiting for Anna Kendrick to get a headlining role in something where I could really cheer for her, and this is it. However, she and everyone else in the cast are constantly upstaged by Rebel Wilson as the boisterous Fat Amy, who explains to Audrey and Chloe that she calls herself Fat Amy so that "twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back." Not everyone gets much screen time, and there are an awful lot of old chiches in the mix, but they're all so well used. The token black girl's ethnicity is never mentioned once, but the question of whether she's a lesbian becomes a running joke. The soft-spoken Asian girl is so quiet you can't hear her, but when you do catch a few words, you realize everything coming out of her mouth is outrageous. It's only a little bit of subversion, but it helps enliven all the usual plot complications needed to get us to the big finale number and the happy ending.

Speaking of the a capella numbers, they're very easy on the ears and the big production numbers are a blast to watch. According to the press notes, everyone did their own singing, so you shouldn't go into this expecting technical perfection, but the enthusiasm and the creativity make up for a lot. "Pitch Perfect" was a pretty low budget production, and there's a lot of corner trimming in general. For instance, Carnegie Hall is namechecked several times as the site of the finals, but we don't get so much as a single New York City exterior shot. However, I think that's also part of the film's charm. It has a few stars who are on their way up, but none of them are too big yet that they overwhelm the production. The whole thing feels a little last minute and thrown-together, but that injects a spontaneity and authenticity that proves invaluable.

“Pitch Perfect” could have so easily been rote and tired and glossy and dull, but sometimes the old formula works when a movie really commits to every piece of that formula – and isn’t afraid to add vomit jokes.
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