Review of Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) by Drauchdoes2015 — 23 May 2015

The female-driven vehicle, as Cate Blanchett put so elegantly in her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine (and I'm paraphrasing here), should be championed in our modern age and not demeaned into a niche. I entirely agree with this sentiment and believe gradual progress is being made. It's about time talented women are allotted the screen roles they deserve. However, while there are examples of films that smother women in secondary parts or roles of nonexistent importance, there are also equally regressive, pseudo-female-empowerment movies that set the righteous feminist cause back.

I must make clear that I don't consider the Pitch Perfect series a step back for womankind, but I can't deny the shallow exploitation at the heart of the girl-power musical. For every Mad Max: Fury Road, there is a Hot Pursuit, and the rest of the spectrum is filled with countless mixed-bag entries that I would love to espouse, but their ineptitude keeps my wholehearted support at bay.

The Pitch Perfect series also warrants notice for attempting a throwback/revamp of the movie musical, an ambition I would tout were the numbers engaging or memorable. The fact remains that the actual musical elements of these films remain, at least for me, their undeniable achilles heel. The vocal performances from all involved, though technically proficient, have been stripped of personality to accommodate the pop-sensibilities of the typical teenage girl to whom the series is marketed. The arrangement of these blasé a cappella covers, while more bearable than the original chart-topping version they emulate, range from mildly tolerable, to cringe-inducingly over-the-top and, most egregiously, false.

The performances have no conviction and haven't been strategically selected for any other purpose than being the most broad and culturally discernible for it's target audience. Rather than furthering the mood of a scene (via Moulin Rouge, another musical I find grating, but for different reasons) they are assembled without tact and placed randomly throughout, regardless of the emotional connotation of whatever Billboard 200 tune they're rehashing. This hints toward two possible fallacies: the filmmakers show poor, elementary misunderstanding of tone, or they esteem brand recognition above competent, honest craftsmanship. I think both accusations have merit.

The cast has enlarged, as per the preconditioned rules of the Hollywood-sequel. Additions to the primary cast include Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld and Chrissie Fit, both of whom are STRANDED in caricatures. I was really rooting for Steinfeld to turn out as a scene-stealer here, but her talents are squandered on a naive, intentionally-awkward-turned-unintentionally-legitimately-awkward role that goes against the strengths of the actress. Mattie Ross would scoff at the lack of conviction in this character. I don't want to say much more on the addition of Fit, other than that it is a stereotypical, racist, irritating character that NOT ONCE inspired anything less than aggravation in me.

Where Pitch Perfect 2 succeeds on the casting front is on the supporting side of things. Though Katey Sagal and David Cross aren't given much to do, we do have a hilarious cameo by Reggie Watts, a self-aware, not-so-terrible appearance by Snoop Dogg, and an all-time great supporting turn by Keegan-Michael Key.

My goodness, this man is an absolute gem. His role as a big name music producer serving as Anna Kendrick's mentor is a one-stop grab for everything the film was missing: actual entertainment. The over-the-top insults he spouts are tinged with a carefully timed, acidic vitriol. His character constitutes the only possible edge this film has. He is blunt, he is honest, and when he's enthused, he doesn't disintegrate into a puddle of pathetic over-acting. We needed more of him than we got here, but thank goodness he's in it at all.

The rest of the ensemble has fleeting success with comedy, though the humorous element of Pitch Perfect 2 is it's strongest aspect (The advertising department made a good move selling the film as a farce first-and-foremost). There is an ongoing joke about Anna Kendrick's sexual confusion towards an opposing a cappella team leader and an opening sequence involving Rebel Wilson (who is surprisingly annoying and dull in this outing) that are solid comedic takeaways.

For the most part though, Pitch Perfect 2 gets overly distracted in furthering it's universe, at the expense of actual character development. Serious moments leave me shaking my head in embarrassment at the laughable , amateurish melodrama pitched totally straightforward.

Devoted fans of this series will blindly geek out over this recent entry. Those who take in their movies with a grain of salt will either despise it wholly for it's artificiality (an honest case I'd be somewhat on the side of) or begrudgingly forgive it in lieu of it's terribleness for it's attempt at rejuvenating the movie musical.