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Pitch Perfect 2
Three-time national champion a cappella group the Barden Bellas have a “wardrobe malfunction” in front of a VIP audience. Now, their only chance at redemption is claiming the international championship. But will impeding graduation, infighting and romantic woes doom them? (…given the genre? No, of course not.)
So, the group graduates exactly one member and takes in exactly one newbie in three years, and then takes in one freshman at the beginning of everyone’s senior year…leaving them essentially in the same position of recruiting an entirely new group as in the beginning of the first movie. This demonstrates both a complete lack of foresight and a dearth of pattern recognition. That’s…shockingly realistic, actually. (The one new non-newbie character, the Guatemalan girl who obviously had a very complicated childhood, gives us a new running gag in exactly the style I enjoyed in the first movie.)
Jethrien also commented on the use of “Lollipop” by the Treblemakers and its incredibly blatant lyrics—I retorted that there was not a single all-male a cappella group (besides the ‘Poofs, who don’t count) who wouldn’t do that if they thought they could get away with it.
In the first movie, there’s the whole bit with Chloe’s node-removal surgery allowing her to sing very low, which excuses them doubling Brittany Snow’s voice down the octave to fill out the arrangement in the finale. They don’t mention it here, but given that she’s still in the group, I’m accepting that as a continuing in-universe explanation.
Several times, I was irritated that Fat Amy had any interest in Bumper, as she can clearly do so much better. (Heck, I kind of expected a brief scene of her and the football players in a hot tub.) Jethrien thought it was a good way to avoid inflicting either of them on anyone else.
Half of the characters who return from the first movie (Bumper, Benji and the Trebles primary among them) seem to be there only because of their contractual obligation to do so. Their plot bits are entirely unnecessary and feel a little like padding. There’s a bit of “demoted to extra” going on. (Though, to be fair, I like the fact that the story clearly revolves around an assortment of female characters and that their love lives are entirely secondary. Elizabeth Banks deserves plenty of director/producer praise for that.)
The bit where the female lead of DSM sexually confuses Becca and all of her trash talk comes out as compliments is so, so much the kind of bit that you just give to Anna Kendrick and say “go.” It’s glorious. “Yeah, well, your sweat smells like cinnamon! …dammit.”
Overall: It felt more than anything like a long-form episode of Glee. Most of the characters are terrible people; the situations are insane and unrealistic, but still amusing; the singing is great; and you really shouldn’t think too hard about any of it. Also, it sound probably be noted that at this point I would watch Anna Kendrick sit on her couch in sweatpants reading Twitter, so anything she sings in gets a minimum “watchable” rating from me.
So, the group graduates exactly one member and takes in exactly one newbie in three years, and then takes in one freshman at the beginning of everyone’s senior year…leaving them essentially in the same position of recruiting an entirely new group as in the beginning of the first movie. This demonstrates both a complete lack of foresight and a dearth of pattern recognition. That’s…shockingly realistic, actually. (The one new non-newbie character, the Guatemalan girl who obviously had a very complicated childhood, gives us a new running gag in exactly the style I enjoyed in the first movie.)
Jethrien also commented on the use of “Lollipop” by the Treblemakers and its incredibly blatant lyrics—I retorted that there was not a single all-male a cappella group (besides the ‘Poofs, who don’t count) who wouldn’t do that if they thought they could get away with it.
In the first movie, there’s the whole bit with Chloe’s node-removal surgery allowing her to sing very low, which excuses them doubling Brittany Snow’s voice down the octave to fill out the arrangement in the finale. They don’t mention it here, but given that she’s still in the group, I’m accepting that as a continuing in-universe explanation.
Several times, I was irritated that Fat Amy had any interest in Bumper, as she can clearly do so much better. (Heck, I kind of expected a brief scene of her and the football players in a hot tub.) Jethrien thought it was a good way to avoid inflicting either of them on anyone else.
Half of the characters who return from the first movie (Bumper, Benji and the Trebles primary among them) seem to be there only because of their contractual obligation to do so. Their plot bits are entirely unnecessary and feel a little like padding. There’s a bit of “demoted to extra” going on. (Though, to be fair, I like the fact that the story clearly revolves around an assortment of female characters and that their love lives are entirely secondary. Elizabeth Banks deserves plenty of director/producer praise for that.)
The bit where the female lead of DSM sexually confuses Becca and all of her trash talk comes out as compliments is so, so much the kind of bit that you just give to Anna Kendrick and say “go.” It’s glorious. “Yeah, well, your sweat smells like cinnamon! …dammit.”
Overall: It felt more than anything like a long-form episode of Glee. Most of the characters are terrible people; the situations are insane and unrealistic, but still amusing; the singing is great; and you really shouldn’t think too hard about any of it. Also, it sound probably be noted that at this point I would watch Anna Kendrick sit on her couch in sweatpants reading Twitter, so anything she sings in gets a minimum “watchable” rating from me.