Unfunny and Generally Boring with a Poorly Executed Plot

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2015)

The sequel to the popular 2012 musical comedy fails to live up to it's predecessor and disappoints. The film opens with a blunder involving the much loved character, Fat Amy (tiredly played by Rebel Wilson), exposing her nether regions in the middle of a performance at the Kennedy Centre causing great embarrassment to the Bellas and the a cappella world. This causes the group to be suspended from participating in any collegiate a cappella competitions and going on a showcase tour. Of course, the only way they can return back to the a cappella world is to win the world a cappella competition (which they just so happen to not be banned from). The main plot of the film revolves around this goal, with the conflict being the more interesting a cappella group, Das Sound Machine (DSM) , being better than them and the Bellas trying to find their sound again. This plot, while not the most interesting or new, is an okay premise. What fails the film is the execution of this plot.
The first hour is littered with scenes that have no great significance in advancing the plot, but are simply there to be there. This is not necessarily a problem: In comedy these scenes when used effectively, can house funny gags that add to the overall enjoyment of the film. However, it poses an issue when those scenes happen to be boring and repetitive and simply allusions of better scenes from the first movie. An example would be the riff off, which was awkwardly put together, with five a cappella groups, and with each group getting "cut off" for incredibly dumb reasons such as Distraction From Pretty Girl or Oops I Got Nervous So I Sang A Song I Wrote Instead until DSM was left, causing them to win. It was clumsily placed into the movie with songs that were not that interesting. Pointless party scenes at the Treblemakers' house are also included in this bland hour.
Skip to the next fifty minutes or so and that's when the plot really starts to progress. The Bellas go to a camp run by Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp) who along with Bumper Allen (Adam DeVine) are two of the characters that bring the most humour and fun to the movie. In the retreat, conflict occurs between Beca (Anna Kendrick) and Chloe (Brittany Snow) over Beca not telling Chloe about her internship at a recording studio (a passable subplot that brings some laughs) which is then solved within the next couple of minutes by a booby trap and a couple of jokes. The Bellas sit around the campfire and find their sound again and all is well. They go forth and enter the world a cappella competition and to no one's surprise, they win. With the help of the new addition to the Bellas, Emily Junk (Hailee Steinfeld), the Bellas sing an original song, thus allowing them to beat the far more superior Das Sound Machine and a cappella groups across the globe, none of them having thought of the groundbreaking fresh new idea of song composition before.
Aside from the weak resolution and execution of plot, other factors contribute to the overall quality of the film. Being a musical comedy, the jokes play an important part. The commentators John (John Michael Higgins) and Gail (Elizabeth Banks) pollute the film once again with awkward unfunny jokes about race and gender that are either offensive, unintelligent or both. Any attempt to subvert the sexism/racism/general stupidity of her co host from Gail feels like a painfully unfunny afterthought. The movie also relies too much on it's jokes from the first film, like Lilly's lack of a voice or the mid performance mishap. The gags from the minority characters tire quickly due to the formulaic way of writing and soon become very forced.
Lastly, the film contains too many montages. There are about three within just the first hour and the film has not done enough within that time to deserve those montages for the plot yet. They are used way too often than necessary and only once or twice for good effect.
There are a few good moments in the movie. For example, the Bumper/Fat Amy song where Fat Amy sings in an attempt to win back the heart of Bumper in a funny solo which later turns into a duet is probably one of the movie's only charming tunes. Another good moment would be the scene reminiscent of the first film where the Bellas' shared something personal about themselves only this time, the girls talk about their future after college instead. It was a scene that offered a glimpse of maturity and honesty about confronting one's future.
These moments, however, are not enough to make up for the lack of interesting plot and jokes as subtle as a firework display that generally cause the film to fall flat. Fans of the first movie might just get by enjoying this movie through the various throwbacks to its predecessor, however it is especially hard for newcomers to find anything worth remembering about this film.