For liking this film, it helps to like terrible 80s songs and it helps even more liking a capella performances. Ideally, one would also like US university campus life with all its rituals and distractions. This probably means that the film’s makers did not have me in mind when writing the script and rehearsing the choreography.
Anyway, sometimes that kind of thing works for me too, and there were some elements that I found enjoyable: To begin with, I do like Anna Kendrick, who still manages to maintain her juvenile natural looks, and who is credible in finding all this college pseudo-religion utterly appalling. Most other aspects I liked are oddly underdeveloped: she is creating her own music, but what becomes of it? That story-line culminates in one of her tracks being played on college radio, great stuff… her bulky co-singer “Fat Amy” (you wouldn’t believe what her real name is… ) is very likable in that she is rude and vulgar and everything you need to be to outweigh the obnoxious presence of people who like to run the show in these college clubs, such as the girls’ “band leader”. The romance between Kendrick and the boy band’s pretty boy? Meh… The choreography and the music choice? Meh to the point of “really?” – while the guys had some stunning songs early on in the film (I suppose to make the movie audience believe that a capella bands are really worth watching, please don’t leave the theatre even if the story is half-assed!), towards the end the song choice and choreography by everybody involved is getting lame. We are made to believe that the final performance at the final competition is an outstanding new definition of what a capella bands can do, even if they only consist of girls (not my emphasis, theirs…). Nope… quite anti-climatic.
Nothing that would elevate this above average, but “average” is quite ok for a campus music comedy, I suppose…
thomas4cinema 