Kind of enjoyed it, but...

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2017)

This was a tough film to rate. The performers are clearly having a ball, and undoubtedly had even more fun off-screen as well. It does feel like we the audience are being invited along on an overseas vacation, a lark, an all-stops-out, almost drunken-silly reunion of friends, and that may be its central problem: it felt to me like the director and actors (and screenwriters) were having so much fun on location improvising and goofing (and singing and dancing) that they forgot to include an engaging plot or any attempt at coherence and effort to make a great comedy "finale" for the Pitch Perfect series. Even John Lithgow, one of my favorite actors (especially in comedies), seems to have dropped any pretense of effort at real acting or performance in favor of chewing the scenery, bugging out his eyes, and playing with a very odd-sounding Australian accent (this may be an inside joke that those from Australia WILL get a big laugh out of because it's so off, but it just sounded, well, like a bad attempt at an accent to me). Anna Kendrick and especially Rebel Wilson, and many of the returning players (Elizabeth Banks, I'm looking at you) clearly improvised much of the dialogue using the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" method of improv, but, unfortunately, the editor didn't take out the not-so-great moments. It's still fun to watch them all at times, and the musical numbers are slick and well-choreographed, as always in these "Pitch Perfect" films, but this Part 3 "finale" (I say that in quotes because it sure would not surprise me one bit if they are back for #4 if this one is a hit) is truly just OK, hence my settling on a middling 5-star (out of 10) rating. One thing, though, I sure do think Rebel Wilson deserves another shot at a major sitcom where her improv goofiness can shine (with the help of an editor and sharp-eyed director)--she won me over by film's end, yet again, especially during the final "action-film" section of scenes (without giving anything away). She is a talented hoot.