Movie Review: Pitch Perfect 2
Beca (Anna Kendrick) and the Barden Bellas are back in this installment, but we've flashed-forward three years; Beca is now a senior, and starting to think about what she wants to do after graduating from Barden. She gets an internship with a music producer, but quickly realizes that she's going to have to step up her game if she wants to succeed in the business. Meanwhile, Chloe (Brittany Snow) and the Bellas are horrified to learn that they have been suspended from a capella competitions after a certain incident at the beginning of the movie involving Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). Because the Bellas are the reigning a capella champs, they are still allowed to attend Worlds, which will be in Denmark at the end of the school year, but the a capella board (Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins) have no interest in reinstating them, unless by some miracle they win the competition. The Bellas must band together and find out their "sound" yet again, in order to keep the group alive for the future.
Most of the gang is back from the first movie, even if in small roles; since Aubrey (Anna Camp) technically graduated from Barden three years ago now, she meets up with the girls outside of school. There's some new blood too: Hailee Steinfeld, as a legacy Bella who desperately wants to be in the group, and Katey Sagal as her mother, who fondly remembers her own time as a Bella. Bumper (Adam DeVine), Fat Amy's love interest, is also back, even though he graduated as well; he's working at campus security. There's also a ton of cameos in this film, and I was surprised at the number of big stars and personalities they were able to sneak into this movie without the secret being leaked (don't try to look for them on IMDb, because they're not there, currently).
Yes, definitely see this movie. The plot is a little weaker than the first film, but it's probably one of the funniest movies I've seen recently, and I know I'll be listening to the soundtrack frequently like I did with the previous film's, as it was very good. Make sure to stay through the credits for a mid-credits scene that is also very funny - I almost missed it, but luckily for me the line exiting the theater was moving slowly and I was able to catch it. I will say that you should not see this movie if you are easily offended - John Michael Higgins's character makes a lot of anti-women jokes, though they're funny (the movie doesn't take itself too seriously in general), and one of the Spanish members of the Bellas makes a few ethnic jokes as well. Usually sequels are not as good as their predecessors, but in this case, Pitch Perfect 2 is almost just as hilarious, and that's a good thing considering how well the previous film did at the box office.
Pitch Perfect 2 is in theaters today, May 15th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 115 minutes. 4 stars out of 5.
{Click here to read my review of the first Pitch Perfect}
