A Severely Missed Opportunity

Rating: 3/10 (28 December 2017)

"Pitch Perfect" is a franchise that really shouldn't succeed even close to the levels it reaches. Yet, it manages to grab from just enough audiences to prove itself viable most of the time. It has the "girl power" audience, the audience that loves the raunchy humor/wisecracks, and of course the well-choreographed song/dance numbers. Throw in just enough of a story, and you've got something.
The first "Pitch Perfect" film was all about the transition to college and branching out in the world. "Pitch Perfect 2" was about diving deeper into that experience and bonding with friends. Though never in line for an Oscar nomination, a story arc was indeed in play here. "Pitch Perfect 3" was supposed to be about coming together after college is over and being a bit lost in life (as many young people feel at this point in time). Sadly, that opportunity is wasted by a script that doesn't try nearly as hard as it should to continue the story arc. What results is a jumbled mess, punctuated by just enough musical numbers to keep it watchable for even the hard-core fans.
For a basic plot summary, "PP3" sees Beca (Anna Kendrick) and the rest of the Bellas (Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Hailee Steinfeld, Ester Dean, Hana Mae Lee, etc.) struggling to adapt to life outside of the group. They are presented an opportunity, however, to participate in a USO tour to "support the troops", (as well as perhaps prove themselves to be the opening act for DJ Khaled) and they all jump at the opportunity to sing again.
Story-wise, this movie is a mess from start to finish. The USO doesn't really even make that much sense (and keeps changing in plot-device fashion to fit the narrative), no character development takes place, and a subplot involving Fat Amy's father (played by John Lithgow) is inanely stupid. There is even a confusion of tone, as the writers didn't seem to know what they wanted this movie to be. Is it about the Bellas reuniting and "finding themselves" again, or is it about acapella music vs. instrumental music? Unfortunately, neither path is definitively taken or resolved.
To me, the saddest thing about "PP3" is that it missed a golden opportunity to "go out on top", so to speak, as this is a franchise that is not (despite its previous cash-cow status) going to live on forever. It has already lost a lot of that forward momentum. This could have been a great "final reunion" movie that brings everything back together and to a close. That doesn't happen here, though, as instead the tact was more to just create an average PP film and sort of leave the characters adrift at the conclusion. My guess is that the studio producing these films did not yet want to make an "ending film" in the series, but I think they will come to regret that decision (this one is not doing well at the box office at all).
Overall, then, "Pitch Perfect 3" was a big disappointment to me. The song numbers are literally all this film has going for it. The rest is a mess, and potentially a long-term mess for this franchise as well. It's too bad that the studio wants to milk it dry, as that is exactly what seems to be happening here. Creatively-speaking, "PP3" is bone-dry.