REVIEW
Pitch Perfect
Where: SilverCity
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson
Parental advisory: PG, coarse language
Rating: 2 (out of four)
It isn't easy to find a youth culture the movies haven't already exploited to death. We're already familiar with break-dancing, cheerleading and even debating teams. But what about competitive a cappella?
That has potential, especially now that Fox's Glee has made theatre kids cool. Pitch Perfect seems keenly aware of pop-cultural currents - it's directed by Jason Moore (Broadway's Avenue Q) and written by Kay Cannon (30 Rock) from a novel by Mickey Rapkin, a former GQ editor - but that ultimately undermines it. Though likable and energetic, the movie is so eager to put a finger on every pulse that it loses the rhythm.
Anna Kendrick plays Beca, a budding DJ reluctantly attending Barden University. Strolling the quad, she's recruited by Aubrey (Anna Camp) and Chloe (Brittany Snow), leaders of The Bellas, a team of desperate a cappella losers. Across campus, cute freshman Jesse (Skylar Astin) joins the all-male Treblemakers, setting the stage for a Romeo-Juliet romance.
The cast is appealing: Rebel Wilson of Bridesmaids has fun as the overconfident Fat Amy, while Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins get the most laughs as a pair of sardonic commentators.
Another glaring problem: Nobody seems to have much of a voice. Kendrick sounds fine singing David Guetta's Titanium in the dorm shower, but her rapping No Diggity is not a showstopper. The whole movie, as Randy Jackson might say, is pitchy.
