*Insert "Aca" pun here*

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2012)

I went into Pitch Perfect expecting a very different film. After seeing so many lame, easy-going, fluffy tween pictures that do little to drum up anything but the awareness of the clichés they are heavily relying on, this film is a breath of clean, lively, and somewhat subversive fresh air as it shows a group of collegians in their school's a capella program trying to make it to a prestigious competition and hopefully change the face of the entire a capella world. It's also pretty apparent here that a capella beats all extra circular activities at this college, including football. And even academics.
I approached Pitch Perfect with the same hesitation I did Mean Girls, which I went on to dub one of the smartest, most relatable teen movies of the last decade. I feared that Pitch Perfect would become obsessed with the idea of cheekiness, rapidly descending into the bowels of self parody, with jokes that screamed childish and characters that defined caricature. The film is rather cheeky and self-aware, but it presents itself in a light-hearted way, completely knowing its origins, and while respecting them, simultaneously not taking them too seriously, creating warmth and vibrant atmosphere for the film's entire runtime. It understands the inanity of its idea, yet can still conduct itself seriously when needed and jokingly when applicable.
The story concerns the fine arts-driven school Barden University, where incoming freshman Beca (the lovely Anna Kendrick) enters with something a little less than a hungry, open mind. Her tuition is free, thanks to her professor father, but she envisions herself in Los Angeles, enjoying the warm sun and pursuing a niche career in music producing. Her father fears that her field is too specific and it's more of a hobby than a formal career (don't get me started on my aspirations, which I'm learning fall along the same lines). Yet we know she's serious; just look at all the hip beats and uniquely composed instrumentals on her laptop, one of which replicating and sampling the fantastic ballad "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers.
After seeing her miserable and uninspired after a month of school, Beca's father strikes an abrupt and unusual deal with her; if she can find a club and show genuine passion for it, she can go to Los Angeles and he will help her with her dream of being a producer. She decides to join the Barton Bellas, an a capella team at the college, that made headlines (or blurbs, depending on how seriously a newspaper handles a capella news) after an embarrassing incident at the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella. The Bellas are looking to rebound their reputation of being a joke, and hire Beca as a new member despite her notably quirky, "alternative" personality.
The leader of the Bellas, a dictating woman named Aubrey (Anna Camp), keeps the group on a very tight schedule that is anything but mailable. She prohibits talking to or "penetrating" members of "The Treblemakers," currently the number one a capella group at Bardon University. Unfortunately, Beca has become somewhat entangled with Jesse (Skylar Astin), a charming movie-geek who has fun bringing energy and joy to the students of Bardon. Jesse also takes pride in introducing Beca to the limitless wonders of film scores, telling her that John Hughes' The Breakfast Club has one of the best movie endings of all time. I couldn't agree more. And on a final note, all the a capella tournaments are announced by Elizabeth Banks (who too serves as one of the several producers on this film) and John Michael Higgins, who assume a witty and often charming "Statler and Waldorf"-like personality during the competitions and clearly have fun reciting the material, which comes off as practically improvised. For all I know, it was.
One of the many charmingly realistic things about Pitch Perfect is it steers clear of the typical teen romance trap, and collectively subverts them by staying focused on the misfit Bellas and the competition at hand, rather than the relationships they may go on to form. Consistent readers know how I tire from the incredibly senseless humor that, thanks to attention span-shortening shows like iCarly and Victorious (and if we're talking film, the pathetic Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise), has now become increasingly common. This was a more mature film than I expected to see, with a stable commentary on the quirks of life and the beauty of being different. Even the film stays away from lackluster character stereotypes, making The Treblemakers pompous and self-consumed, yet truly showing that they have talent and possess serious singing skills.
During more than one of the numbers, I questioned how, um, authentic some of this singing was. Sometimes, we can tell that the beautiful Anna Kendrick (who spent much of her teenage years on Broadway) is singing songs like David Guetta's "Titanium" and see that The Treblemakers are perfectly recreating a beat-less version of Flo Rida's "Right Round," but at other times we can see that some of the sounds are rather unnatural. Let me just say that the vocals occasionally sound widely overproduced and some of the musical sounds mirror those of synthesizers.
Yet this isn't enough of a problem to distract the viewer greatly. Director Jason Moore makes smart decisions about keeping the direction fast-paced, and screenwriter Kay Cannon is aware of the female adolescent culture and can near perfectly replicate it. Not every decision is a surefire hit, seeing as there are far too many jokes about projectile vomit (two instances of it) and one random and unnecessary scene that takes place shortly after the second instance. Regardless, it can be noted that Pitch Perfect is one of the most impressive and complete tween efforts of the year, showing little immaturity, but a grand amount of understanding of the increasingly complex teenage demographic.