I’ve got to hand it to Pitch Perfect 2 – as somebody who’s seen a great deal on film, I’ve never seen Rebel Wilson desperately rowing a canoe upright while singing “We Belong” to win back a man of nobody’s dreams. For that matter, I have also never seen the Green Bay Packers in a sing off. Go ahead, let that sink in and then try, just try, to hate this film. Sorry, it’s not gonna happen.
The Bellas are back, which surprises nobody as, apparently, they didn’t go anywhere. I’m serious. It’s been three years since Pitch Perfect and nobody graduated. This is a school, right? You keep saying, “University of Barden” and I see the campus. What I never see is books or teachers or classes. Oh, it’s one of *those* schools. Winkwink nudgenudge. To be fair, the screenplay does point out that at least one Bella has had trouble (treble?) graduating … on purpose (because she likes being a Bella). Is this NCAA sanctioned stuff? Do you have to redshirt members to save eligibility?
Combining B-roll of a Presidential gala with a “Glee“-like production number, the Bellas start Pitch Perfect 2 in hot water. A “wardrobe malfunction” by Fat Amy (Wilson) – while singing “Wrecking Ball” HA! — mars a performance with such force that a production troll had to unearth Barack Obama’s “I’m disappointed” expression. The Bellas are immediately put on suspension, which can only be rescinded if they win the international a cappella championships at the end of the semester.
I’m gonna say this once. Well, I’m probably gonna say this many times, but I’d like to say it just once – screenwriters, find a new vehicle besides “championships that don’t exist in real life.” Not only does this put you on
par with the You Got Served/Step Up crowd, it continually promotes the message that self-worth is determined by hardware and not hard work. The fixation on trophies is one of the huge reasons generations above don’t respect generations below. Find another way.
So the awful in PP2 is an unnecessary championship, but the script is delightful. You already have music and romance and conflict. On the latter, head Bella Beca (Anna Kendrick) has discovered she’s a senior and may need a life after college, hence takes an internship at a local music studio. Seriously, does Barden have any classes at all? This leaves the Bellas lacking both leadership and chemistry meaning they continually get served by their German rivals (yes, their German rivals. Yes, a collegiate undergraduate all female a cappella group has German rivals), Das Sound Machine. Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Flula Borg are hilarious here as aca-villains.
The improvement here is we cut the origin stories down to one, noob Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). Accepting the variety pack Bella collection and moving straight to punchlines is far superior than explaining which Bella is which. The music here is, once again, wonderful – but there’s tremendous irony in the presentation. Two standards of the a cappella world – a reliance on established hits and mash-ups – are both criticized, yay. Go, PP2, tell us how mash-ups and Beyoncé covers are done. If 
your sound is good, you don’t need five mini songs, you need one good one and it doesn’t need to be a cover. And yet, when the Bellas have to dig deep, they rely for the most part on mash-ups of established hits. Oh well.
Does it make one lick of sense that David Cross has his own underground a cappella Fight Club? (With a grand prize of a $42k gift certificate to Dave & Busters?!) Not one little bit; they just wanted to recreate the impromptu showdown from the original. Doesn’t matter. Any scene that pits a singing Clay Matthews facing off against Das Sound Machine is worth your time. Point to all this is Pitch Perfect 2 is far from pitch perfect, too, but there’s a ton of stuff to love here from the Elizabeth Banks (director!)/John Michael Higgins announcing to the tongue-in-cheek impromptu “Cups (You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone)” when the Bellas go on retreat to find themselves. I’m certainly seeing this again at some point and I’ll enjoy it when I do. (Too cliché to say I’ll miss it when it’s gone? Never mind; just like the Bellas, it’s not going anywhere.)
♪It came in like a wrecking ball
Destroying the Avengers hold
Max was certain to be Mad
I’m sure his Road had Fur-ur-ur-y
I can’t name a single Belle
Without looking them up
Thankfully I don’t need to
And still enjoy the repartee-ee-ee-ee♫
Rated PG-13, 115 Minutes
D: Elizabeth Banks
W: Kay Cannon
Genre: Musical empowerment
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Females of all ages
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The tone deaf
Film notes:
Do you know what the Bechdel test is? Obviously the Pitch Perfect franchise has no problem passing. For me, the Bechdel test isn’t just about awareness of women in film, it’s about awareness of anybody in the movies targeted to me who isn’t a white male, and there’s a perfect example of diversity done right in Pitch Perfect 2: Beca’s producer boss (Keegan-Michael Key) can’t stand his underling (Shawn Carter Peterson). Boss is routinely critical of the employee, dressing him down repeatedly in front of peers; it’s very funny stuff unless you work in HR. Anyway, both men here are black. Why does this matter? Well, it shouldn’t, of course, except that – if boss is white, these exchanges might come off as racist; if underling is white, these exchanges might come off as pandering. Both black? Both same sex? No issue, only comedy.
Now for the $64,000 question – how hard, really, was it to cast black males in both roles? I bet not one little tiny bit. No, this doesn’t solve racism or diversity on film or anything. But it doesn’t add to a legacy of discrimination, either.
♪ Parody inspired by “Wrecking Ball”
