Pitch Perfect

So hands up who would have thought that a film about college a cappella groups would be one of 2012’s most entertaining nights at the cinema? Liars. What fun this is though. Freshman Beca (Anna Kendrick) joins college, but skips classes as she’s more interested in following a career in music production. When her father finds out he offers her a deal that means he’ll allow her to pursue her alternative career path if she can prove to him that’s where her heart is really set. Working at the school radio station doesn’t really do the trick, though she does meet and development a friendship with fellow freshman Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin – and, no, those names aren’t the wrong way round). Some plot machinations later find Beca reluctantly joining an all-girl a cappella group (The Bellas) and the storyline revolving around love, friendships and, of course, a cappella competitions kicks on from there. As obvious as it sounds, for a film covering the genres of musical and comedy to work you need both the dance numbers to impress and the jokes to find their mark. To cover the first factor, Jason Moore is handed the directorial reins. There may have been a few sweaty palms at Universal as this is his feature film debut, but he has a solid background directing on Broadway (including such gems as Avenue Q) and his experience and knowledge of song and dance mean the musical performances in the film are impressively shot and smartly edited. Crucially, they are also quite short, meaning that the target audience is enjoying a comedy musical as opposed to an outright musical comedy or drama (i.e. Step Up and other similar imitators). On the laughs front, what’s most pleasing of all is, apart from a couple of spectacular puking sequences, the gross out humour is kept to a minimal as most of the jokes stem from Kay Cannon’s witty script. Cannon works on the gem that is 30 Rock (a line involving a rape whistle is straight from the womb of Tina Fey and co) and it shows with a screenplay that is littered with dry asides and scope for the actors to improvise when they want. Though light in execution, the film also has a solid feel of realism when it comes to the competitive scenes and this is because Moore bought on board some members of the real life a cappella scene to assist with the song and dance arrangements (these people themselves featuring in the non-fiction book by Mickey Rapkin on which the film is based). Finally to the cast. In their own separate ways everyone is great. All the plaudits have been going to Rebel Wilson as the groups loudmouth, well, rebel, but this is basically an ensemble film and the plaudits can be spread amongst all the actors for their singing, dancing and comedic ability. Anna Camp is believable as the highly strung group leader of the Bellas, desperate for everyone to follow a hilarious set of rules in order for the girls to triumph, Adam DeVine defines smarm as the egotistical leader of a rival a cappella group and even newcomer Hana Mae Lee gets many laughs from a part which basically involves her speaking as quietly as possible. In addition Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins provide cracking cameos as co-commentators at the a cappella-offs, mainly due to Higgins’ un-PC comments. If you want negatives, the actual story line is pretty standard with no real surprises and the dysfunctional group coming together and beating the odds has been seen plenty of times before. However, these are minor quibbles. Leave your cynicism at the door and enjoy a film in which the laughs come thick and fast and the tone is of gentle mocking rather than snide patronisation.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
This could have been lame, but with the right tools at their disposal the cast and crew deliver one of the highlights of 2012. Rating: 8/10.