Pitch Perfect

For Beca (Anna Kendrick) there is really only one passion in life: music! She couldn't care less about the people around her, most of them are just complete idiots. But in music Beca can really blossom, which is why she can only imagine her professional future in this field. But for the sake of her father, Beca now reluctantly tries her hand at university. And since she was able to extract a promise from her father that she would be allowed to pursue her dreams if she tried out a normal college life for a year - participation in a community activity included. And that's how Beca ends up with the Bellas, an all-girl a cappella group determined to win at the college a cappella championships this year. Too bad the motley crew has everything but talent. But Beca, of all people, manages to give the Bellas the momentum they need that could catapult the group to the top of the championships. But ambitious Aubrey (Anna Camp), the Bellas' frontwoman, doesn't take kindly to that. And so Beca's exit from the Bellas seems to have come before she's really warmed up to singing.

Pitch Perfect is a bit like the naughty big sister of High School Musical and Glee. The protagonists are a little older, so they're in college instead of high school. And the humor is also a little more raunchy and, in the film's best moments, more biting than, say, some episodes of Glee. In the singing scenes, in which mostly current or even somewhat older pop songs are interpreted and mixed together in an original way, the film by Broadway director Jason Moore (Avenue Q., Shrek the Musical) can also really convince. Otherwise, however, the whole thing is more of a collection of missed opportunities.

The ingredients, in themselves, are the right ones. The intrigue and mare-baiting within the a cappella circus is somewhat reminiscent of the wonderful satire Mercilessly Beautiful with Kirsten Dunst. But where that film poked fun at beauty pageants with the utmost bitchiness, this humorous look at the actual existing world of college a cappella championships relies too heavily on cheap jokes and stale gags. For example, Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy plays exactly the character she already played in Bride Alarm, The Wedding of Our Fattest Friend or What Happens When It Happens. This might be quite amusing, but in the long run it's just unsurprising, annoying and a bit vulgar. Also, the fact that Anna Camp is allowed to puke in the direction of the audience in the first few minutes does not exactly raise the level of this comedy, for whose screenplay the author of such successful comedy series as New Girl and 30 Rock is responsible.

Next to the numerous comedic pipe dreams, there are also some very successful aspects. For example, the running gag about the somewhat shy Bellas singer Lilly is genuinely funny, the many direct references to and quotes from the work of 80s directorial icon John Hughes (Breakfast Club) are very nicely realised and the chemistry between the solidly acted Anna Kendrick and Skylar Astin is coherent and provides some nice romantic tingles. As a result, the successful aspects and nice gags are about evenly balanced with the unimaginative moments and stale derbiness. As a result, Pitch Perfect is neither a complete failure, nor a comedic or musical revelation, but simply a nice movie - nothing more, but nothing less.

Who likes the style of Glee, but can also imagine it a bit more exaggerated and crude, who in addition wants to be offered a number of likeable actors and nice gags in combination with catchy a-capella songs and can also overlook some clear weaknesses, will certainly be of the opinion that Pitch Perfect has hit exactly the right note. But if you're hoping for a little more satirical bite and a little more sophisticated humor, you'll be annoyed by some of the scenes and the overall impression of the movie will suffer. The bottom line is then still enough for a: with deductions still worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp