Pitch Perfect 2

Elizabeth Banks is one of Hollywood’s more savvy operators and her choice of Pitch Perfect 2 for her directorial debut is understandably a smart move. To wit, even if the film is awful, it’ll still make a load at the box office due to the popularity of the first film. So has this turn of events transpired then? Well, it’s made the money (of course), but the film isn’t awful. It’s bloody awful. Banks’ direction isn’t great, but not even Akira Kurosawa would have been able to rescue this due to Kay Cannon’s painfully unfunny script. This is all a bit of a surprise as the original outing of the Barden Bellas was such a blast, aided by a story line that had been properly thought out meaning there was the perfect blend of heart and laughs. This follow up feels like it was thrown together in a one minute lunch break. There’s a few strands of different storylines going on (amongst them the girl group trying to win the World A Cappella title and Beca (Anna Kendrick) looking to move on with her life), but none of them engage the viewer and many scenes don’t progress the story in any way, shape or form. There is the occasional chucklesome moment, with the highlights being the return of Banks and John Michael Higgins with their absurd statements as they commentate on proceedings, and a rival German A Cappella group fronted by the game Flula Borg and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen has it’s moments. Though, viewers of BBC4 may be surprised to see the as-Danish-as-they-come Sørensen portraying a teuton. Overall though, the needle on the laugh-o-meter barely moves as joke after joke falls flat, not least with the introduction of a character from Guatemala who makes borderline racist remarks when talking about her homeland. Overall this has to be considered as one of the biggest disappointments of the year, neatly summed up by the bored look on Kendrick’s face throughout the film. You can almost see her brain chuntering over the decision about signing contracts that include a clause re returning for any possible sequels. To borrow the parlance: acca-crap. Rating: 3/10.