Review of Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) by Brett H — 16 Nov 2015

The sequel to the surprise hit, Pitch Perfect, borrows a page out of the Magic Mike 2 script and focuses less on story and more on gags, though admittedly with much better and far more entertaining results.

The story is straight-up, BS, picking up 3 years after the events of the first film where the girls have been reigning champions and after one wardrobe malfunction, are suddenly blacklisted from competing and the whole thing is too implausible to take seriously.

So, it becomes a road trip movie where the singers have to win a different championship against a rival, German a cappella group and it plays out exactly like you think it will. The cast is all reunited though unfortunately most of the male roles are cut down such as Skylar Astin who I thought lent a lot of heart to the first film.

Anna Kendrick is still adorable and hilarious in the lead and new additions Hailee Steinfeld and especially, Keegan Michael Key add a lot of strong material. Elizabeth Banks makes her directorial debut here and I thought she did a fairly capable job and her comedic sensibilities helped make the jokey parts the strongest aspect; though the film definitely could've cut down on Fat Amy scenes.

..I'm sorry, Rebel Wilson just isn't funny. The best scene and the part I laughed at the most was David Cross' secret a cappella tournament and he stole the movie for me, his voice was hilarious! Overall, it's a sequel that doesn't have to try as hard as its predecessor and thus you get a by-the-numbers story, but the a cappella sequences are stepped-up from the first film and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained throughout.