PITCH PERFECT 3 (2017)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Trish Sie
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, John Lithgow, DJ Khaled, Hana Mae Lee, Ruby Rose, Alexis Knapp, Chrissie Fit, Ester Dean, Shelley Regner, Kelley Jakle, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 21 December 2017

Synopsis: Now graduated from college and out in the real world where it takes more than a cappella to get by, the Bellas return in Pitch Perfect 3, the next chapter in the beloved series that has taken in more than $400 million at the global box office. After the highs of winning the World Championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.

Movie Review:

Last call Pitches.This reviewer says, we can hope. In the latest installment, the girls may have left their textbooks, but the scriptwriters seemed to have returned to theirs.

Pitch Perfect 3 sees the harmonising group Bella take on the biggest stage ever - real life.

Things after college is note-acibly not as glamorous, and our well-tuned songstresses, including Beca (Anna Kendrick), who ended the last movie with a sweet deal as a music producer, are finding out that adulting is all about unhappy compromises.

During a reunion with the girls, Aubrey (Anna Camp) senses everyone’s unhappiness and drops a suggestion to perform for the army troops to get that last taste of fame-dom, and hopefully excitement, back into their lives one last time.

Heading the tour is DJ Khaled (as himself), and the ladies soon realise it’s a competition all over again, as they have to pit themselves against three other bands, including Evermoist led by Calamity (Rose Red), to open for DJ Khaled at the grand concert.

If Director Trish Sie had copied the formula from the successful first chapter, maybe Pitch Perfect 3 would have been a decent finish. A copy still, but at least entertaining. What made the movie popular was not just the snazzy covers of trendy favourites, but also the one-up competition tactics revealed as groups go against one another. Showmanship, infectious mixes and the good ‘ol underdog formula always makes for a good holiday treat. Harmonise this girl, but noooooo.

Even though the motivation was already as weak as Aubrey’s lines, the film really went off-key when it introduced all the fluffy range of side-plots. There’s the odd romance between Lily (Hana Mae Lee) and a crew member from DJ Khaled, the awkward one that Chloe (Brittany Snow) insinuates with Chicago (Matt Lanter), and the Beca and Theo (Guy Burnet) love-hate thing.

On top of that, there’s Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) who seems like she’s about to announce something the whole movie through, the occasional mention by Aubrey about her absent father, as well as Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) trying to reunite with hers.

If you think any of those are going to be nicely resolved at the end - spoiler alert - yes. But it’s so half-hearted, it’s clinically dead. This can be summed up by the lead antagonist, Calamity’s, acting-school look of begrudging approval.

Maybe the cast felt it, because it clearly showed in the lack of energy throughout the movie, but the lines like the acting, are elementary and beyond contrived. For a key example, note the party scene and apiary mention.

It’s a good thing that near the end of the movie, we were gifted with Fat Amy’s espionage on a yacht scene. Wilson hammed it up in possibly the only funny sequence, timed to Britney’s Toxic, and pranced her way to an explosive finish that was all good cheesy fun.

At the finale when the group sang, I rejected all the lyrics and accepted only one word from George Michael’s anthem. Freedom.

Movie Rating:

(Not enough mixing of tunes and voices, too much shuffling of plot focus. This show cannot go on)

Review by Morgan Awyong