PITCH PERFECT 2
Directed by Elizabeth Banks
Screenplay by Kay Cannon and Mickey Rapkin
Starring Anna Kendrick; Rebel Wilson; Hailee Steinfeld; and Brittany Snow
After an embarrassing performance at the Lincoln Center, the Barden Bellas enter an International contest to save the future of the Bellas.
The first Pitch Perfect I think took the world by surprise. It was the little film that could, with great singing/music and strong character development. Can Pitch Perfect 2 live up to the first film? Well...it all depends what angle you look at it. Music? Plot? Comedy?
Let me start with the bad:
The plot line is terrible, so you have to go in and try not to dissect it too much. Basically they threw out a reason to make another film and this plot must have stuck to the wall, so they went with it. In fact there is a story line that follows Anna Kendrick away from the Bellas doing an internship that never really gets resolved....almost like it was filling up space. Another issue is the lip singing is really bad, to a point where I looked away from the screen it was so bad a couple times, I was embarrassed for the actors. In fact the music is not as good as it was in the first film, the music in this one seems overly produced. My last complaint is John Michael Higgins, who is back giving color commentary of the competitions, he is constantly throwing out jokes and every single one is falling flat, some were even offensive.
Now for the good! This film is the funniest film I have seen all year. They did a really good job by giving more screen time to Rebel Wilson, she is a very funny physical comedian. They added Keegan-Michael Kay and David Cross to the cast and they are very funny, as they always are, in their short time on the screen. Snoop Dog and The Green Bay Packers (yes you read that right) are also in the film and are also very funny. The wonderful chemistry of the Bellas/actresses (with an addition of the wonderful actress Hailee Steinfeld) makes the film work as it did in the first film. There is one wonderful sweet scene where the Bellas go on a retreat and it is the highlight of the film. Even the music in this scene is much better and not overly produced. The strange thing is, it is a movie about an acopella group and when they are on stage the movie seems to fall apart a bit.
I was ready to give this 4 stars but in the last competition something overly corny happens and it dropped to 3 1/2 out of 5. Much funnier than the first film but the music/lip singing drags it down. Still if you want to laugh a lot go see it and make sure you stay through the credits because there is a really funny scene!!
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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