Super Shallow

Rating: 5/10 (7 June 2015)

I am giving this movie 5 stars (instead of say, 1) because it was watchable enough to hold my interest, some of the singing scenes were fun, and the characters were all right. I understand that this movie is aimed at the tween set and the need to go "a bit deeper" wasn't really seen. That being said, this movie was extremely surface level - it doesn't have the makings of the classic I thought it might be based on its level of popularity, and what's sad about that is that it did have the ingredients.
The main problem with this movie was that it wasn't SATISFYING. Part of the thrill of movies like this is that the mean characters finally get what they deserve or learn their lesson, and the hard work or effort of the more likable characters finally pays off in a triumphant series of scenes, but that just doesn't happen to any of the "bad guys" (I use that term loosely) in this film, and when the various climaxes hit, it was very hard for me to truly give a crap. The little bit of depth required to take this movie into the realm of "memorable" just wasn't put in. The result of this is that we don't care as much as we could, and a feeling of vague annoyance permeated my overall enjoyment while I was watching. I do understand that this is supposed to be a light, fun movie, but I'm sorry, there are dozens of classic light, fun movies (including those aimed at a younger audience) that have that WEE bit of substance that make them truly affecting and inherently non-shallow. The film tries to teach lessons, but ends up sending very mixed messages. Thus, the movie is shallow, and that is different from being light. Not only that, but the storyline was fairly weak (though the premise was pretty good, although there are plenty of affecting movies with fairly weak story lines, so that is not the main problem for me) and the dialogue at points was truly the opposite of terrific (again, that is not necessarily a deal-breaker, but it didn't help matters).
SPOILERS:
Examples of bad guys not getting what they deserved: a) Aubrey. She is the perfectionist leader of the group who refuses change, and there are many, many scenes with her bossing around (and being a total B*TCH to) Chloe, Beca and the girls. We spend the whole movie waiting for her to "get hers" but guess what, it never really happens. Whenever Beca tries to stand to Aubrey, it is so weak it is practically out of character, and no one ever really backs her up. So finally there is a very weak scene in which it all the girls finally decide to *kind of* stand up against Aubrey, (which is begun when Chloe FINALLY takes a stand against the abuse, and we are totally robbed of the satisfaction because Fat Amy directs her "stop fighting, guys!" at CHLOE and not Aubrey?!?) it ends in a ridiculous group fight complete with Lilly making angel wings in Aubrey's vomit. What the heck? Yes, the troop changes and tries something new and wins as a result, but I found it extraordinarily unsatisfying, and the climax utterly fails to penetrate the heart.
b) Bumper. This is the leader of the Bellas' rival a Capella troop the Treblemakers, who is a gigantic buffoon. This guy insults and dismisses people constantly, but instead of getting any payback he turns out to be the most successful guy in the whole movie, exiting upon getting some kind of audition in LA. Um, excuse me? So being a ruthless jerk that doesn't care about people and throws burritos at people from a moving vehicle is your ticket to success. Is that it?
c) Beca's Dad. Yes, we get it, she is super rude to him and wants nothing to do with him because he and her mom got a divorce. Even though they eventually reconcile, I was still expecting there to be some back story that explains why he doesn't seem to care that she is obviously extremely hurt over their divorce. On the flip side, he also doesn't get the apology he deserves from her, either. Final scene with them: completely unsatisfying. Light. Fluffy. Whatever.
d) Beca herself. She treats the guy that loves her (and that deep down inside she also loves) like crap for scene after scene, and gets on his case for doing wonderful things to help her. He *finally* stands up for himself, and it is slightly satisfying, but um, still, not really. But out of all the examples, this one was the most well-done, thankfully. I actually did enjoy the dynamic between Jesse & Beca and thought it was one of the best aspects of the movie, cliché as it was.
That aside, it wasn't funny, although I believe it was intended to be. I myself have found plenty of movies really funny when the critics say they weren't, etc. so this could be a personal thing, but I didn't laugh once. (I am the type to laugh at barf and farting and diarrhoea in movies, so I'm not THAT hard to please in this department.) But anyway, the example that stands out the most is the banter between competition commentators Gail and John-- it was bizarrely non-witty and unfunny, whereas this could have been the best part of the movie. For instance, another one of this movie's ultra-weakly executed lessons was to show that "girls can do it, too" and that ties into John's (and Gail's) anti-girl attitudes and comments. However, there's no payoff at the end. The girls finally do something original. Gail tells John he's a misogynist. John doesn't appear to care, or to have leaned his lesson, based on admitting they did a good job.
Dats all folks.