“Pitch Perfect 2” (2015) opens like a wrecking ball, with Rebel Wilson’s “Fat Amy” accidentally revealing her junk to the president at the Kennedy Center. Deemed an insult to the a cappella world in the aftermath of the incident, the Barden Bellas — three-time collegiate champions since we last saw them in the original “Pitch Perfect” (2012) — are set to be cast out of the aca-community unless they win the international championship. If the Bellas are to be victorious, they must find an entirely new musical sound, take on a new member and face a daunting opponent on the global stage. Yet somehow nothing in the sequel feels fresh. If you haven’t seen the first film, don’t fret — “Pitch Perfect 2” ends up being no more than a remix of the original, only with higher stakes.
Beca (Anna Kendrick) returns at the film’s helm, now trying to balance her friendships with her future as she strives to make it as a music producer in her senior year at Barden University. Director Elizabeth Banks, however, makes Becca deliberately unfunny, crippling Kendrick with awkwardness as if to accentuate the clowns around her, including Wilson, who is given even more of the spotlight as a graceless sidekick, now the Curly to Kendrick’s Larry.
Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise— after the original “Pitch Perfect,” Rebel Wilson became an insta-celebrity before quickly moving on to serve as a caricature of herself, the unpredictably gauche Aussie who uses her weight as a weapon. But the sequel milks that image for all it is worth, sacrificing novelty and acting range for hollow and hackneyed jokes we’ve heard before. No more than a one-note actress in the film, Wilson should not be center stage here, and hopefully she won’t be for many more movies unless she is able to expand her range. There shouldn’t be much room in Hollywood for actors whose image is their only joke, and unless Wilson can pull a Jonah Hill, who transitioned from a comic figure in “Superbad” (2007) to an Academy Award-nominee for “Moneyball” (2011) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013), I don’t expect her to have many more leading roles.
Thankfully, the singing in “Pitch Perfect 2” is still on key, with flashier numbers propping up the tempo. In many ways, the film resembles NBC’s “The Sing-Off” (2009) on hyper-drive — producers even draw on previous winner Pentatonix and Dartmouth’s favorite Aire and former Sing-Off participant Michael Odokara-Okigbo ’12 in the final competition scene. But while the film’s German über-group “Das Sound Machine” dazzles musically with robotic precision, their humor and accents throughout the film remain about as complex as a kindergarten piano recital. I had to “pitch slap” myself to ensure that five — indeed, five — Green Bay Packers surrendered their dignity to act as an a cappella group in the film’s later stages.
Ultimately, Banks, lost in sequel land, resorts to trite high school motifs of sleepovers, pillow fights and campfires to give the movie any heart at all. In doing so, she loses the rebellious freshness of the original, turning “Pitch Perfect 2” into a cloying college drama. The side-plot of Beca finding her career could be removed without consequence, and Beca’s dictatorial boss — Keegan-Michael Key, of “Key and Peele” (2012) fame — offers humor, presumably geared to the boyfriends dragged along in the audience, that flaunts no more than a low-brand of hyper-masculine aggression that’s about as subtle as a monster truck. It’s a shame, since at least on the basis of his Comedy Central performances, Key is too talented to be put in such a rudimentary role.
The film is kept alive, though, by its periphery characters, who form humorous caricatures of misogynists, racists and immigrants. Banks’ grace notes here are unrelenting and fortissimo in shock value — the announcers, politically incorrect versions of the Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf, keep the film in check, lampooning a cappella itself as only for those “too ugly for cheerleading.” Lilly, the whispering, satanic Grudge-doppelganger returns in full force, along with Cynthia Rose, the libidinous lesbian, and a new face, Flo, a Guatemalan immigrant who offers horrible tales of her homeland. Politically-correct ears beware, this will be one hell of a cacophony.
All in all, the film itself fits into a critique often levied against a cappella itself — lacking the depth and creativity of an original, it repurposes its content for a good show. Granted, there’s some flare thrown in with the dancing and character gags, but for the most part, “Pitch Perfect 2” is a letdown. Save this one for somewhere down in your Netflix queue.
Rating: 6/10“Pitch Perfect 2” is now playing every day at The Nugget at 1:50 p.m., 4:20 p.m. and 6:50 p.m., with an additional 9:15 p.m. showing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
