Pitch Perfect
Dir: Jason Moore
2012
*
Early on in 2012's Pitch Perfect, Anna Kendrick's character Beca asks if competitive a cappella group singing is "really a thing now?". The answer in the film is obviously yes, otherwise they'd be no film (wishful thinking) but whether this is a 'thing' in real life, I have no idea. However, the fact that Pitch Perfect did so well at the box office and is highly praised on certain movie review databases is enough for me to wonder if I've accidentally wandered into an alternative reality where the youth of today have lost every ounce of creativity, rebellion and sense of humor. When I was young, and indeed in every generation before, the youth would bring something new to the world, whether it would be musically, visually or physically. Sure, movements would influence other movements, but it was all progressive. If it wasn't progressive it was deconstructive (Punk for example), which in itself is progressive to some degree, either way there was thought behind it. Youth are supposed to oppose and fight against mediocrity. Pitch Perfect is my idea of a horror movie. Putting the music (that I detest) aside, I really don't understand the attitude or humor. The Breakfast Club is featured in the movie as an example of a great teen drama. It is a great teen drama and Pitch Perfect doesn't come close to the greatness of a John Hughes movie but it seems to think it does. None of the characters or likable or funny, in trying to create character the writers have just simply relied on stereotyping and casual racism (something The Breakfast Club rebels against and why it's so great). Rebal Wilson is awful at spontaneous comedy, I have no idea how she has made a name for herself doing it, her only joke seems to be that she is fat and stupid. I've said this before and have been accused of being sexist and fattist. I really don't care what your sex or waistline is, funny is funny and funny she ain't. I find it even more frustrating that youth think that in some way she is empowering women. She really isn't. Different can be funny but it isn't always, this and other ideals in the film are the twisted ideologies of a brain-dead movie producer. I can see that the music and dancing may appeal to many but the tired characters, their behavior and unrealistic situations are beyond tiresome. The script is awful, the acting is awful, the structure is awful, the direction is awful, the idea is awful, the pointless commentary from John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Higgins is awful, the fact they think someone vomiting is funny is awful, the fact that they thought the vomiting scene was so funny they decided to repeat it is awful, it's all awful, but worst of all is the fact that every single part of this film has been copied from countless other awful films that have come before. Watching Pitch Perfect is the equivalent of eating your own faeces, in fact it's worse than that, it's like eating someone else's.