Loved it!

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2014)

Place me firmly on the "enthusiastic thumbs way up" team. Movie reviews by definition reflect the opinions of the reviewers. I have seen some very positive and also some extremely negative reviews of this title. I found it refreshing with excellent performances by a talented group of young actors and actresses (and a couple of slightly older models in John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks adding some excellent dead-pan banter to the proceedings as the commentators who may or may not have a past with each other). Where do I start? For me, the music is first rate. I was in glee club and drama club, way back in the Jurassic era known as the 1970's. A Cappella singing, when done right is about as much fun as it gets in my opinion. The comedy: well most reviewers are enthralled with Fat Amy, and I certainly found her laugh out loud funny. Still, I am becoming a huge Anna Kendrick fan and found her more subtle humor even more enjoyable. The other cast members are equally adept. A shout out here for Skylar Astin's Jesse character. I saw where one reviewer commented that if a lady ever finds someone like him, she should marry him. For what its worth, that is exactly what my (late) wife did. I don't understand why male characters in film all have to be jerks. Granted, there are plenty of jerks, male and female in real life. It is nice to see a good, sweet, guy be celebrated and (finally) get the girl. I was Jesse in real life, still am. Right down to the music in movies, as opposed to simply movie musicals-there IS a difference. I am a huge fan of musicals, on stage and on film. Both Skylar and Anna have backgrounds on Broadway by the way, Anna was the second youngest Tony nominee ever and Skylar was in Spring Awakening which won as Best Musical. I think Jesse had an excellent point about the movies he chose for great scores. There are others I could name also. You can never go wrong choosing a John Williams score though. Whether it was done on purpose or not, choosing The Breakfast Club as a plot point is a subtle tip of the hat to perhaps the King of teen movies: John Hughes. And even though his movies were not musical in general, he seemed almost clairvoyant in choosing his soundtracks. (Don't You) Forget About Me is just one example of his ability to anticipate teenage taste in music and be right there backing it.