Pitch Perfect (2012)

The fact of the matter is, I enjoyed Pitch Perfect more than I ever expected to do, despite the un-natural scenes with puke and puke-angels (really, what the hell were they thinking?). Looking past those awful things that will be forever in my mind and not because I want to but because they can, I will try to explain my sudden love for the leading man played by Skylar Astin. So be ready for some not so relevant blather about how much I enjoy his eyes and also some not so friendly discussion of how female characters in movies keep disappointing me.

I’m writing this while taking a break from my studies (yes, I’m still finishing up a project that never seems to end), listening/watching VlogBrothers P4A liveblog and trying not to think about my feared news on Thursday, which I’m really starting to think won’t be positive. Meaning, I’m not 100% into this review but I will try to give my best and sound like somebody who knows what she is talking about, though, I never do. Pitch Perfect is a teen musical about an outcast (by choice I my add) who finds her place in an unusual acappella group (for some reason grammar check doesn’t like the word acappella, so I don’t know if this is the right word). It starts of with a rather unpleasant scene of a girl throwing up her food on the audience and that would have made me run away but I didn’t. Eventually, I was glad I stayed around because Astin appeared and the world was all of a sudden a better place.

Let me explain my new obsession, I love brown eyes. I guess that actually sums it all up except that I forgot to add that I love them to death! Not literally but as close to literally as possible. I just simply find them to be the best things ever, brown eyes on guys: I swoon and swoon some more. So the fact that I got to see some pretty decent brown eyes on a guy who reminded me a little bit of Dane Cook (which is not a bad thing) was enough to make the bad things go away. But then, the after movie negative thoughts appeared. The most horrible thing was the fact that despite the overwhelming amount of female characters, each of them looked like a walking clishé. The lead character portrayed by Kendrick not included, everybody else made me feel a bit sad. What is wrong with movies trying to undermine women like that? It’s like Bridesmaids 2 college edition with singing and less verbal insulting. We have the stressed out leader who vomits, we have the overweight clown, the over-sexed bombshell, the lesbian with a gambling problem, the mouse-quiet Asian with dark and creepy thoughts and the most normal character not afraid to show off her body being stepped over by her friend during 90% of the movie. I have no idea where these things appeared, either in the book by a male author or during the screenplay written by a female, but I am disappointed to my core that seems to be built on feminism (although I do not consider myself as a part of any movement representing a certain set of ideas).

I mentioned Anna Kendrick’s character as not being the one for the book of clishé’s, yet I’m pretty sure her unpleasant manner and constant need to be different does qualify as a regular girl character in movies. Though I tried to relate to her, the fact that she disliked movies was a big no-no but I think in general the character was okay. As an actress, Kendrick is definitely the one to watch. After seeing Up in the Air, I started to like her a bit after the not so positive Twilight feelings towards her, and with this, she managed to warm my heart even more.

After that, I still need to come back to the character building because no matter how much I try, I still think the male characters in this movie were so much better. No guy had to make vomit-angels! One guy did have to make a lot of weird magic tricks but he was being a magician, the Asian chick had no reason to start playing around in that pile of puke! Yes, I am bothered by it so much that I need to mention it over and over again, but that was the thing that ruined it for me. It could have been my favorite movie of the year if it would have not tried to fit itself into the range of comedies that have become immensely popular. I’d rather laugh than hide my eyes and go: “no, no, no, no” because this is what I do when I’m embarrassed and it’s not a good thing.

Plot wise, Pitch Perfect doesn’t offer that much innovation in terms of teen movies, because they get together in the end. I would be sorry for spoiling the end but who are we kidding, everybody knows how those movies play out and this one was not any different. Best thing from it, my newly found obsession Skylar Astin and his brown eyes, in addition to the unstoppable need to re-watch The Breakfast Club during my Christmas break. Pitch Perfect does come off as a good entertainment and yet, even though I watched it twice, I can’t seem to like it for the plot but more for the singing and the guy character. In some ways, yes, it means success for the movie but on the other hand, if one only tunes in for certain elements and cares less for the others, the movie still could have been better.

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