Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Film: Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Ester Dean, Skylar Astin, Flula Borg, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Elizabeth Banks, John Michael Higgins
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Acc-hello!  I spent most of Sunday viewing entertainment (hitting a Netflix movie, two movies in theaters, and then two crazy episodes of some of my favorite shows on the air), so we've got quite a few new reviews out this week, but we'll start with the movie that you're most likely to have seen this past weekend: Pitch Perfect 2.  The film went colossal at the Box Office, scooping up an impressive $70 million domestically, becoming the first sequel since Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me to out-earn its predecessor's entire run in the first weekend.  I'm hoping as a result that Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson were smart enough to ask for back-end cash.  However the question isn't just if it's popular, but if it's any good.  Shall we investigate?

(Spoilers Ahead) As you may recall, I quite liked the original film,  While the film was hardly high art, it was ridiculously fun, anchored by bravura work from Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, and a totally crushable piece of boy-next-door from Skylar Astin.  Three years later, not much has changed and the girls we fell in-love with as freshmen are now back as seniors (never mind that almost all of the principle women are in their thirties or thereabouts, so playing 22 is a bit of a stretch).  The film follows how a wardrobe malfunction with Fat Amy (Wilson) results in them being banned from performing in the national tournament, and can only compete at the World Competition.  Throw in a German a capella supergroup to compete against (headed by YouTube DJ Flula Borg) and you've got yourself a sequel that looks an awful lot like the original.

This is probably where the film takes its hardest hits, but not in the way you're thinking.  The film is very much similar, almost to the point of earning comparisons to The Hangover franchise, to the original film, but there's enough territory here to mine that it actually doesn't feel awful.  The comedy is still relatively funny-you have the hilarious banter between John Michael Higgins and director Elizabeth Banks (who wouldn't want them to do an in-character DVD commentary...actually why is this not a thing, period?), the wonderful dork-a-tude of Kendrick and Astin, and the perfection that is Rebel Wilson, who can make literally any sentence funny with strong delivery.  Putting her with Adam DeVine's Bumper is wonderful, mostly because DeVine is one of the rare comic performers that can hope to keep up with her.  The music is all strong, and this familiarity, while potentially lethal if they wanted to make a third film, is still fresh enough in a second film to not feel tired.

The problem lies in the new elements, almost all of which fail.  Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar nominee, plays a fresh-faced Bella who has dreamed of her a capella future her entire life, but is trying WAY too hard.  She's got a fine enough voice, but when you compare her star charisma to that of Kendrick's or Wilson's it's not even comparable, and I feel like they could have found a stronger unknown to take this space, as it felt very similar to when Glee added new characters onto the show.  The same can be said for Chrissie Fit's Flo, who while admittedly funny at some points, wears a pretty thin welcome and borders onto the offensive on occasion.  David Cross, playing a bizarre Rip-Off host also falls flat.  Honestly, the only additions I found interesting were Keegan-Michael Key as Beca's boss, who has a hilarious series of interactions with Shawn Carter Peterson as his hapless hipster assistant and Flula Borg as the crazy-rapping leader of the arch-rival a capella group, who is so good I actually think he probably deserved to win the final showdown.  Also, Scott Hoying in Pentatonix is perfection, but he's onscreen for like twenty seconds and that's just because I'm in love with Scott Hoying.

All of this is to say that I liked this movie, but nowhere near as much as the original.  It has most of the spark and humor of the first film, but little of the shock and fails with the depth.  Therefore I'd recommend it, but only if you liked the original as there's nothing that's going to change your mind here.  At least those are my thoughts-how about yours?  What'd you think of this follow-up?  Are you all-ready for a Pitch Perfect 3?  Are you acc-excusing yourself from future installments?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

Happy Birthday Darren Criss!

Happy birthday to pink sunglass-donning, curly-haired, Hogwarts-attending, blazer-wearing, dreamy-eyed, velvet-voiced Darren Everett Criss.

Sigh, Darren Criss-the perfect guy.

You're cute too, Skylar Astin.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Film: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Ben Platt, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson
Director: Jason Moore
Oscar History: No nominations (Rebel Wilson did score a BFCA nomination, however)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Anyone remember last year, when Bridesmaids and The Help came out, and suddenly everyone was chatting about making female-centric films and how studios weren't going to leave women behind at the Box Office anymore?  You'd be forgiven for forgetting this, since clearly studio heads did-I know it's only one year, but you can't tell me that they couldn't have quickly greenlit more female-centric movies to counter the Summer of the Superhero (Iron Man and Spider-Man and Batman...oh my!).  Thankfully, for both moviegoers and Universal, Pitch Perfect was that sole counterbalance, became a hit, and is an insistently addictive movie that plays just as well on video as the big screen.

The film revolves around Beca (Kendrick), a college freshman who desperately wants to move to Los Angeles to become a record producer.  She's the child of divorce, and is too-cool-for-school, and you already know this character by heart at the beginning, as she's brimming with cliches, but thankfully the casting director had the foresight to hire the delightful Anna Kendrick as his chief player, who breathes life into this character where most actresses wouldn't have been able to find a unique rhthym for the character.  For starters, she's a complete nerd, something that Kendrick's performance revels in-she's into music mixing and has a penchant for singing, something that comes into play when the leader of a failed a capella group catches her singing in the shower and demands that she try out for her group.  Of course, the group needs her to mix things up a bit and bring the group out of the last century and in with the new, as the group's routines are staid and boring until Beca comes in and introduces them to mash-ups and stronger routines.

If this is sounding like an episode of Glee, but on the big screen, you might be forgiven, but unlike the Ryan Murphy series, this show isn't really about struggling with the hardships of high school and bullying-this is primarily about celebrating your place in the niche you belong in-Beca clearly revels in joining the a capella group, and like all of the characters in the film, is strongly confident in herself.  Her love interest, Skylar Astin, is an aspiring cinematic composer, and while his reliance on The Breakfast Club for inspiration seems a bit of a counter to the plot of the film (which largely seems to reject the idea of the 1980's as an artistic inspiration), Astin's adorkable character (seriously-where are these uber-cute and nerdy guys in real life?) is so easy to crush on, you forgive him his rather boring favorite movies.

While Kendrick and Astin are both great, the film, for anyone who spends longer than ten minutes watching, belongs to Rebel Wilson.  Wilson, whom you may remember from a bit part as Kristen Wiig's roommate in last summer's Bridesmaids, plays the randy and completely spontaneous Fat Amy (a name that she embraces rather than admonishes).  It's hard to tell where Fat Amy ends and Wilson begins, but you're going to be laughing so hard that you won't care.  Seriously-there were times when I'm certain I lost several minutes of the movie because I could not stop laughing at Wilson's ridiculously inappropriate one-liners.  Every time that she comes onto screen, you are inwardly giggling in anticipation of what is to come next.  Wilson, who is clearly an emerging star, will be interesting to place in upcoming films (as people will want her to constantly be playing this vein of character), but this woman has star charisma to the hilt and I cannot wait for what comes next.

The film does have its fault-not all of the eccentric side characters have the pure watchability of Wilson's Fat Amy, and in particular, Hana Mae Lee's squeaky-voiced Lilly's act wears thin really, really quickly and though it's always welcome to see John Benjamin Hickey (Beca's father) show up, Beca is too Gen Y and too self-aware to really be believed as an affected child of divorce.  But overall, this is a wildly fun movie with a soundtrack that you're going to want to instantly go out to iTunes to buy.

What'd you think of the film?  What do you think of Wilson's future as an actress?  And do you, like me, think Kristen Stewart would gladly switch careers with Anna Kendrick?