Has enough quirky bits to be enjoyable

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2013)

"Pitch Perfect" is an enjoyable comedy that will appeal to a wide audience. Anna Kendrick plays Beca, a girl starting college. She wants to go to LA to get involved in the music industry but as her father is a professor at the college she is getting free tuition. Initially she has no interest in mixing as she intends leaving as soon as she can but her father insists that she participate in college life so she joins an all girl "A Cappella" singing group in the college, because wouldn't you know it, she has a terrific voice.
The group came close to winning the National title the previous year but one of its leaders (Anna Camp) had an unfortunate nausea caused event on stage in the final, ruining their chances. Therefore the group's leaders are even more determined to do well this year. However they aren't interested in trying out new styles of performances that Beca suggests. Even more importantly members are not allowed to fraternise with members of the all male group in the college. You can see where this going.
There are rehearsals to find new members and a varied bunch of girls (including a black lesbian, and a whispering Asian) is recruited. This part of the movie has some good laughs in it. Of course Beca REALLY likes one of the members of the male group but as she finds herself taking her participation in the group more seriously she decides to avoid temptation by avoiding him.
There is nothing very original in the movie but it doesn't take itself too seriously and there are enough quirky characters and dialogue to stop it becoming too bland. The cast also seem to be enjoying themselves. Rebel Wilson has a lot of the best lines as "Fat Amy". The singing sequences are good and don't last long enough to bore viewers who aren't "Glee" fans.
Elizabeth Banks is a producer of the movie so I presume it was her own idea to play half of a commentating double act we see at each competition, along with John Michael Higgins. I think they are trying to something similar to what was done to good effect in "Dodgeball", with Gary Cole and Jason Bateman as the ESPN 8 commentators. However here the lines just aren't funny enough.
An undemanding but enjoyable comedy.