PITCH PERFECT

For some reason, when I was a teenager and college age adolescent, I did not like any of the movies aimed at my demographic. I’m not going to date myself by listing examples of those movies, but you can fill in the blanks by me just using the term “Brat Pack”.

But now, perhaps in a desperate effort to retain my agelessness, I get such a kick out of stuff aimed at today’s youth culture.

Admittedly, I am behind on last season of Glee, still I totally consider myself a Gleek.  There’s just something about a mash-up of current pop hits sung by a group of individuals embracing their uniqueness, overlayed with thin teenage soap opera storylines that I find entertaining.  No sarcasm, genuinely!

So I was anxiously awaiting seeing the preview screening of Pitch Perfect.  This Glee-esque  “movie musical” starring Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow as members of a college a capella group called The Bellas.

Beca (Kendrick) is into music. She carries around a laptop with a state-of-the-art sound mixing board and serious big-ass headphones. Her father is faculty at Barden University, the two aren’t close, as Beca hasn’t forgiven him for divorcing her mother and remarrying; yet sensibly, she does agree to attend the school and get a free education. But after a lackluster first couple of weeks, Beca is ready to follow her dream of going to LA to try and land a job in the music industry. Her father makes a deal with her – if she joins a club on campus, gives it her all, and by the end of the semester still hates college, he’ll allow her to go to LA.  Thus the reason why aggressively naked Chole (Snow) is able to convince Beca to join The Bellas after an impromptu shower duet to “Bulletproof”.

The two breakout acting performances in the movie come from “Fat Amy” (Rebel Wilson) a real scene stealing cross between Adele and Melissa McCarthy. And Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) a soft spoken, demented Hello Kitty doll come to life.

(click for T & T exclusive spotlight on Rebel Wilson, by T &T Guest Blogger Lauren Michaels).

Now if you’re going to watch a movie like this and hope every plot device makes sense, or look for any of it to feel truthful or even hope each scene has perfect comedic timing; than you’re walking into the wrong movie. You’ve got to go for the fun, music, vomit, competition and aca-youth!

MTV News interview excerpt with Pitch Perfect Music Producers Julianne Jordan and Julia Michels:

MTV: If there’s a centerpiece song in “Pitch Perfect,” it would have to be David Guetta’s “Titanium” featuring Sia. The song’s a hit now, but I have to imagine it was more under the radar when you picked it for the film.   Michels: We get lucky sometimes when the song is a hit when our movie is released, so it’s kind of serendipitous. Jordan: It was one of those tracks that we knew when we first heard it that it would work a cappella, and because of Sia’s vocals and that we would be able to use it as one of Beca’s mash-ups just because it is that kind of dance track. So it really would be able to serve both purposes. And it’s very melodic, and Jason loved the track, and we loved it. READ MORE

My new boyfriend (fun to be able to say that) just recently added to his iPod an a cappella group called Perpetuum Jazzile.  They’re a kinda real-life version of The Bellas, The Treblemakers, New Direction or The Warblers.

Here’s a video of them singing “Rosanna”: