Easily the worst...

Rating: 2/10 (8 April 2018)

I loved PP1 and was pleasantly surprised by PP2, but this movie... This movie was horrible. It's like they picked the things that were bad about the first two and focused solely on making those the main parts of the movie. I really wanted to like this movie, don't get me wrong. I went into watching it thinking that it would be a lovely hour and a half of good music and funny story. Instead there was... like... no music? Yeah, they sang a bit and there was kind of a competition, but in the end this movie focused on some weird out of left field backstory for Fat Amy that NOBODY wanted. At all. Like... why? Normally I don't get angry at movies, but this is the first exception I've had in a long time. So let's break it down.
First off, let's look at the group in general. The movie brings back most of the cast from the first and second movies. At least, the female cast. The love interests from the first two are completely gone and barely glossed over and one of the more interesting female characters gets written out because she's pregnant (And oh boy she's a whore so she doesn't know who the baby's dad is. So hilarious.... I guess.) Not that Stacie was the most interesting character around, but at least she was memorable. Not sure why she was written out (other than maybe political gripes), but I let it slide. To be fair, hardly anyone in the main cast gets much attention in this movie other than Beca, Fat Amy, and Chloe. Speaking of which, let's get down to the plot and sub-plots.
Let's address the elephant in the room. The drug dealer international criminal father background for Fat Amy was so far out of left field that it was not good. At all. It was surprising, but not in a good way. And then suddenly she's some kind of kung fu expert who can take down a ship full of bad guys? There is no way the Fat Amy in the first two movies is the same as this one. Not only that, but she's even more unlikeable in this movie. Her character went from funny in the first to okay in the second and now just completely unlikeable. Her incompetence and overall crappy freeloading attitude is just grating. I'm not sure why the main plot of the movie had to be a conflict between her and her estranged father.
Then there's Beca's will-they won't-they relationship with this new guy and the story of how she's an amazing music artist/producer and blah blah blah. As much as I like her, Beca's character fell flat in this movie as well. She was... more of a stiff board than anything else. I was very sad to find that she just didn't stand out and honestly I didn't find myself invested in anything she did. Her best part in the movie was in the first act where she quits her job. Everything else... is meh. And really, this new guy Theo is nothing compared to Jesse. There is no chemistry and it's so forced that it's painful to watch.
Speaking of forced romances, Chloe and Chicago were also a boring subplot. Are they a cute couple? Yes. Was it a believable relationship? Eh, depends on who you ask. At least someone ended up happy, I guess? I was also very annoyed that the Aubrey subplot with her father was only resolved in the ending credit scenes. Poorly played, but at least it was a satisfying ending unlike literally every other ending in the movie.
A lot about the story's plot really didn't do it for me. And the "competition" wasn't really a competition at all, or at least there was no real supporting story for it. We start out with the Bella's realizing these other artists are really good, even better than them, and then... Nothing happens? Somehow they still end up moving forward and Beca gets chosen as the winner? I mean, really, DSM was a far more compelling "rival" than anyone in this movie because you got to see the Bellas struggle against their adversaries and attempt to better themselves. In this movie the "rivals" were barely side characters and just there for a brief time to show that there was something more to the movie than Fat Amy's boring and unlikeable plot line. Not only that, but the Bellas did not evolve at all. There was no internal struggle or dealing with issues like in the past two films. It was like the Bellas themselves were just a backseat plot.
Speaking of boring, the music really suffered in this movie. I came into this expecting great musical numbers, but instead we got brief snippets of songs and no real finale song. Sure, there was a somewhat short final piece of Beca and her friends, but there was no production to it. I get the meaning behind it, but I wouldn't be bothered as much had there been an actual attempt at a big choreographed and well-written song scene in the movie. In fact, the music itself took a backseat to Fat Amy. Yes, her story rears its ugly head again in this review, but that's because this is how it was in the movie. You'd move on to the promise of music and the Bellas and then end up straight back in the awful Fat Amy drug smuggling daddy plot.
So all in all? This movie suffered a great deal due to Fat Amy and the backstory we never wanted. PP movies are about the music and the Bellas. Instead this may as well have been called "Fat Amy: The Movie". A movie, mind you, that nobody wanted. There was no good music pieces in it and there was no real story for the Bellas. It's like everything was being thrown in last minute and as a result nothing got the spotlight other than one poorly executed and unentertaining bit. I hate saying it, but I hated this movie. It wasn't worth my time or money and it is a sore disappointment as the end of the PP trilogy.