Pitch Perfect is.... well, you know

[diaphenia]

Pitch Perfect might be my favorite movie of the year.

I mean. You and I both know that, in an effort to win the Oscar Movie Death Race every year, I see a ton of movies that are very good.* I go see foreign films and art house movies and little-seen documentaries, and I do it all with a smile.

But Pitch Perfect speaks to something in my soul. That part of my soul is pretty shallow and loves sparkles.

Here’s the plot. I’m not spoiler cutting this, because, here’s the thing, you don’t really need me to tell you the plot, because you’ve seen a movie before.

Anna Kendrick is a college freshman who totally wants to drop out to be a dj, but because CONTRIVENCES decides to join an all-female acapella group, at a college where acapella is a huge thing for some reason. She meets an acafella who is on a rival team (and therefore forbidden to her) who also likes music, but wants her to watch The Breakfast Club. He’s into her and she puts up walls, so naturally they are making out by the end. This is despite the fact Brittnay Snow has luscious red hair and totally hits on her in the shower while naked. Also! Anna and the lead acagirl, Anna Camp, clash over TRADITION verses MASHUPS, as you do. Will they win the big acapella competition? Will they forgo TRADITION for MASHUPS? Will they give up their terrible stewardess costumes in favor of clothing that flatters all figures? Of course they will. And it will be awesome every step of the way.

Also in a side plot, no one at this college realizes that all the students are actually thirty.

Let’s discuss why PP is the best movie of the year:

Pop music: pop music is awesome. Mash-ups are awesome. Anyone who tells you they hate pop music is a liar and/or old and therefore not as responsive to dopamine in their brains. And this movie loves pop music.

Rebel Wilson: hilarious, every single time she spoke. Fat Amy is my patronus.

Eye makeup: if this movie doesn’t win the Oscar for eyeliner then I am giving up on the Oscars forever. Every time Eternally Youthful Anna Kendrick appeared on the screen, she had the same perfect eyeliner and flawless eyeshadow. When she was crying? It didn’t matter, that eyeliner stayed on like a tattoo.

Elizabeth Banks: Someone on tumblr recently said EB isn’t funny. I don’t remember who that person was, but they are dumb. “There’s nothing that makes a girl feel like a woman like men who sound like boys.” Half the best quotes come from Banks as a commentator for the acapella competitions. Also! She calls out her fellow commentator for being a misogynist. How many movies can you name with the word “misogynist” in them? Freaking none of them.

Ladies talking to other ladies about things that aren’t boys: this movie passed the Beshdel test with flying colors. Do you know how many other movies I’ve seen this year that do? Hardly any! It’s really sad, actually, how many movies I’ve seen vs. how many I’ve seen that pass the test.

At the end of the movie I turned to B and her friend and told them we should come back every single night and see it till it leaves theaters and I was only a little kidding.

I recommend seeing this in a full theater, preferably with someone who will let you hold their hand when the preview for Les Mis.

*Except in 2011, when all the movies were terrible regardless

Comments

[lizinstereo.livejournal.com]

I loved everything about this movie. It was predictable but it didn't insult the audience. And it was FUN.

I liked the pop arrangements because they were fresh and inventive. However, not all pop music is good. But we disagree on this, so I am going to move on.

Anna Kendrick was well cast. I'd love for her to do another musical. And even though Spring Awakening is not my favorite musical by a long shot, it's great to see Skylar Astin have a big break. He was adorable. And I teared up at the end with the homage to the Breakfast Club. And I loved the use of Don't You Forget About Me - that is a good pop song.

The Les Mis trailer made me ugly cry.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

It was the first time I saw Les Mis on the big screen-- seriously, and I see all the movies-- and it was GLORIOUS. Oh my god. I am beside myself with excitement.

Skylar Astin initially bugged me, but when he threw his hat in with The Breakfast Club I decided he was worthy, because what good person hates TBC? And then when AK realized that TBC was a great movie? That was the emotional high point for me, let's be real.

Oh! And weren't you the one on tumblr who linked to the picture of the spinning wheel that had "songs ruined by Glee" on there?

[lizinstereo.livejournal.com]

Nothing good can come from hating the Breakfast Club.

Yes, I am always down for hating Glee. BTW, Glee is doing a Grease episode because it wants you to be unhappy.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

I think Glee wants to take all my sixth grade sleepover memories and punch them in the face

[ballroom_pink.livejournal.com]

Is it just me or does The Breakfast Club start as the funniest movie you've ever seen and with each repeated viewing becomes sadder (and more reflective of your life)?

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

I think we just get older, and wiser.

[ballroom_pink.livejournal.com]

At 14 - when I first saw The Breakfast Club - I laughed so hard. When I watched at the end of high school, I cried.

[ballroom_pink.livejournal.com]

I also had a trailer of Les Mis before the movie. I love watching it.

[ballroom_pink.livejournal.com]

Kay Cannon rules and knows how to write perfect stuff for Elizabeth Banks. And EB produced it! Did it matter that I never understood who she and JMH were talking to the entire time? NO. They were hilarious.

They were building a lesbian story and I really thought it was going to be between Aubrey and Chloe, as Chloe was definitely giving off that pansexual college vibe with Beca and it seemed that Aubrey was in love with her with the winks and such. And I thought Aubrey would be coming out by the end of the movie, she was so repressed in many ways that I thought it would help her.

The Eye Makeup: Even in the shower!

Love the girls in the group. From the one girl who's super-quiet asides cracked me up to the two girls who were glorified extras (they even pointed out that they had been there the entire year).

The dude was like a mini-Zachary Levi and I liked him a lot. I was a bit like Beca in college, except I didn't sing and never met an awesome guy who wanted to show me The Breakfast Club.
The jerky guy who left was a bit of a disappointing in the trajectory of the story - I wanted him there when the Bellas beat them, I wanted to rub his face in failure just for Aubrey's sake.

Speaking of The Breakfast Club, many of those ladies they were like Ally Sheedy, who in the span of one year played a high school student in TBC and a college graduate in St. Elmo's Fire.

And Rebel Wilson rules my world.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

The lesbian thing was the one thing I didn't love about the movie. Like, they had them say early on that ten girls meant one was a lesbian (which, no, that's not how statistics works, but whatever) and then they kept making us think it was the butch girl and then.... it was! Clever, except completely predictable. Meanwhile, they build up the AK/BS so that it could be a perfect coming out story, except of course they have to straighten out the shower scene by having BS in there with a boy. Which, really? We get it, everyone's aggressively straight!

I hope people write femme fic for it.

I could watch an entire movie of those announcers announcing.

[whimsical-irony.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm tracking the Pitch Perfect tag on tumblr because of reasons and there is so much Beca/Chloe fic in there. Not sure about the quality though.

[throwingpens.livejournal.com]

I want to see this SO BAD but my ridiculous town won't have it in until Thursday. Kay Cannon was always one of my favorite writers on 30 Rock and everyone on tumblr is raving about it. And now you say it might be your favorite movie of this year? I HATE EVERYTHING.

Plus, Fat Amy came from Amy Poehler being pregnant with her first son and calling herself Fat Amy. Which means I'm prone to liking this even more when I have yet to see it.

Basically, you have encouraged me to move based on when I can watch movies. So thank you for that.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

Come live near me; we get all the movies. I know, I know, it's not DC, but DC doesn't have me there.

Oh! And that Fat Amy thing is delightful.

(If I really had to pick the best movie of the year it would be Moonrise Kingdom)

[throwingpens.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously contemplating it, don't tempt me. (But I like Texas? I know, I was just as surprised as you are.)

But there is a difference between what is BEST and what is FAVORITE. Like, you can objectively say that things are better, but like something else more. Warren G. Harding is historically ranked as the worst president of all time, but that doesn't stop me from liking him (not the best example because I actually kind of hate him...) OKAY how about this one: Washington and Lincoln are historically the best presidents, but that doesn't stop me from loving the Roosevelts, Andrew Jackson (don't kill me...HE HAD A BLOCK OF CHEESE!), and LBJ.

[k8-26-2.livejournal.com]

Or, I think Abbey Road is the BEST Beatles album but Revolver is my favorite (and "Strawberry Fields Forever" is my favorite song of all time yet on neither of those albums.)

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

My favorite president is Jefferson, as you know because we discussed this once because NORMAL.

(If you move to the chi we can discuss presidents all the time during the commercials)

[ballroom_pink.livejournal.com]

Guy who played Jesse was in Hamlet 2!

[k8-26-2.livejournal.com]

It's just such a HAPPY movie. I knew I would enjoy it but I was surprised by how much I really loved it. I had known Elizabeth Banks produced it but I didn't realize she was in it until I saw it. I love her; what is this nonsense about people not thinking she's funny? Rebel Wilson stole the show, though. I wonder if the character was written for her or changed to fit her type of humor once she was on board.

We also got the Les Mis trailer and I don't know what else you got but at our showing it was so clear that they had no idea what type of people were going to show up for this movie because we also got trailers for a period drama, a bunch of horror films, a wrestling comedy, and Twilight.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

You told me I would love this movie, and I thought, you don't know that except you totally know that, and you were completely right.

Someone on twitter said EB wasn't funny, and-- here's how you know this guy was a genius- since EB wasn't funny, women shouldn't try to be funny. It was awesome.

[yumytaffy.livejournal.com]

To get the silly negativity out of the way, that person who called Elizabeth Banks unfunny was Nikki Finke, who is an "influential" Hollywood news reporter who I find dated and full of herself. Don't get me started on how she seems to say controversial things and passing it off as her "just being honest" just to get a rise out of people. She's essentially an internet troll with power.

ANYWAY. So this Pitch Perfect movie is the bee's knees.

Even though I'm admittedly a snob for plot and characterization and blah blah, there is a very specific part of me that loves musicals and productions and one-liners and pop covers of already-catchy songs. It's the same part of me that forgave S1 Glee, for all its plot holes and ridiculous jumps in logic, because it was delightful and made me happy.

Pitch Perfect was predictable and--yes, I hate to say it--essentially Bring It On with acapella, and it made zero sense that all these freshmen could come in and suddenly take over these nationally-recognized acapella teams, but I loved it all the same. It was just so delightful. From the amazing arrangements to the great cast (who all had singing chops I didn't know they had) to the genuinely hilarious script, everything gave me S1-giddy-happy Glee feelings.

I was 100% okay with everyone looking like they aged out of college a while ago. It made me feel less old when I developed a crush on Skylar Astin (who, in my head, was Zachary Levi the whole time) during the movie, looked him up, and realized that even though he's younger than me, he's not jailbait.

I'm already counting down the days till its on DVD so I can watch it on a loop forever.

I AM SO EXCITED FOR FOR LES MIZ, I CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT.

[saucydiva.livejournal.com]

When Les Mis comes out I'm going probably keel over dead. I'm not saying this to bum anyone out, it is just a fact.

Anyway, you nailed a lot of the reasons I loved this movie. It was just happy and lovely and hilarious, and there was a real sense of joy. The stakes are low, but that's fine, because you're having fun. I agree; I'll be buying the dvd too and watching it on repeat.