The film makes a vague attempt to treat its
central characters like human beings,
mostly by focusing on what comes next for
them in a post-Bellas world. Since most of
the Bellas are college seniors, they’ll all
have to face the real world eventually.
Beca, already on her way to becoming a
music producer, starts an internship at a
studio headed up by Keegan-Michael Key.
Key, as a no-nonsense, high-maintenance
producer, is about as real as the film gets,
and he’s a hilarious breath of fresh air. It’s
Key's character, in fact, who asks Beca to
stop focusing on a capella and start
making original music. Chloe (Brittany
Snow) is stuck in a rut, having held herself
back in college for three extra years to stay
with her beloved Bellas. Meanwhile, scene
stealer
Bumper
(Workoholics’ Adam
DeVine) is trapped at Barden as a security
guard after a failed shot at the sort-of big
time.
The movie doesn’t let the characters dwell
on the future for too long, though. There’s
always a show-stopping number to
perform or montage to muck through. But
all that spectacle doesn’t hide what
doesn’t work. Pitch Perfect 2 just isn’t very
good at pretending it’s anything more
than fan service, and it’s often not great at
even that. The sets are bigger, but the
writing is lazier, with plenty of confusing
moments that can even get downright
racist. For instance, Chrissie Fit, who plays
new Bella Florencia Fuentes, is turned into
one long, terrible joke about about the
plight of murdered women in Latin
America, a problem her fellow Bellas just
sort of nod at. Elsewhere, Elizabeth Banks
and John Michael Higgins return as Talkapella judges and double down on their over-the-top banter, trading barbs about Jews and the fact that no
one cares about Koreans.
But really, Pitch Perfect 2 is bad because it’s trying too hard to please. It’s like the first movie, shocked it
became a sleeper hit, basically went, "Holy shit, that worked? Give them more!" It’s the kid in chorus who got
a standing ovation last year, and decided to pile on the sequins to make a bigger splash at this year’s big
performance, all without actually improving on her voice. Pitch Perfect was always absurd, and it reveled in
it. Its sequel packs in even more pop hits, outrageous moments, and big finishes in its nearly two-hour
runtime, all at the expense of good comedy. In going big, the movie forgot how to be funny.
I walked out of the theater thinking maybe campy singing un FW&F