*written in August 2012*
This past summer I went to this film because I needed a break. Reality was sucking a bit more than usual, and I was mentally going down for the count. Sometimes a film intensifies the gloom for me, but I thought this piece of gossamer fluff could only refresh like a dip in a pool on a summer's day. In that sense, it did not disappoint. There's no mental heavy lifting here.
First disclosure -- I was an immediate fan of TV's "Glee" in its earliest days. (I cannot bear to watch it now because 1, I bore easily and 2, watching the young adults navigate their careers outside of high school bears too much resemblance to my own midlife career struggles). I've been a music and musical theater geek for a long time, singing Anita in church teen production of West Side Story and taking part in chorus and band during my own formative years. I went to Pitch Perfect expecting a bit of Glee Goes To College on the Big Screen. (Or Bring It On with Song.) And that's pretty much what it was. It's pablum, but it's harmless.
Wanna-be DJ/remixer Beca (Anna Kendrick)arrives at college against her wishes, but her Dad wants her to get her degree before launching a music career. She gets suckered into participating in the on-campus a cappella girl group, The Bellas, whose prissy leader is stuck in the past. (They keep singing Ace of Base's "I Saw The Sign," which unfortunately always reminds me of the uncomfortable 8 months I spent working for Arista Records, which was relentlessly promoting that song at the time.) After loads of character development, backstory, a flirtation with a fellow student, and some bad performances, Beca and her fellow Bellas must hunker down for the inevitable Big Competition, where it is Beca's talent for remixing and mashups that finally gets the girls their propers.
Thusly described, this sounds like a massive yawn. But the film struck all the right notes. It didn't take itself too seriously, it had a little romance built in, the lead character wasn't too cutesy-poo nor too goth in disposition. The characters and the music are fun. It had a simple plot, some obvious sit-com humor, and silly sight gags. The film has some twisted obsession with "The Breakfast Club." But I laughed, folks! Yes I did.
As a former urban music journalist, I am torn about the fact that urban music has become widely popular (yay!!); so much so, that young Caucasians have no compunction about co-opting it (ummmm...). I felt a pang of discomfort watching these pale suburbanites who were barely born when the song first hit break out into Blackstreet's 1996 "No Diggity" in a free-for-all facedown. But in the spirit of equal-opportunity archive-raiding, this was OK.
But the real fun of the flick can be embodied in two words: Rebel Wilson. I am in love with her.
Rebel Wilson is so wrong she's right. This Aussie comic actress with the near-albino look is unusual, awkward, lumpen, refreshingly unselfconscious yet deliciously self-aware. Her comic timing is spot on. (The few moments she is onscreen in Bridesmaids are brilliant.) As Fat Amy, she pokes fun at herself, while at the same time showing us how ridiculous and wrong we are for ever thinking that we should poke fun at her. She is unafraid -- and that is the most awesome thing about her. Rock on, Rebel.
(a year later, Rebel's schtick has worn out its welcome, thanks to the dull and tasteless sitcom "Super Fun Night")
Pitch Perfect is a bit of silliness. Anybody expecting it to be a serious examination of college life or a display of spectacular musical artistry are bound to be disappointed. If you need a smile, this could be your prescription.
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