Musical comedy movie, “Pitch Perfect,” about collegiate acapella groups, is one of the best pieces of media to come out of 2012.
“Pitch Perfect” follows Becca, a disgruntled college freshman with dreams of becoming a DJ in Los Angeles, begrudgingly joining the Barden Bellas, an all-female acapella group. On their journey to winning the International Championship of A Capella, the Bellas have to fight through adversity such as nodes, the Treblemakers, and a shocking third place finish at Regionals. By the end of the movie, you will find yourself falling in love with the ridiculousness of it all.
The move begins with Becca arriving at Barden University. She finds herself at the activities fair, where she gets approached by Chloe and Aubrey, captains of the Bellas. They describe how the Bellas are in desperate need of new voices; Aubrey threw up at nationals, disgracing the group’s status.
Becca declines, saying she can’t sing and goes off to find the DJ booth. Meanwhile, her future love interest, Jesse, and his roommate, Benji, discover the “coolest organization on campus:” the Treblemakers.
The Treblemakers, the on-campus all-male acapella group, are the Bellas’ biggest rivals. Led by Bumper, the Treblemakers are loved on campus and were last year’s national champions. In a move to impress Becca and showcase his skills, Jesse signs up to audition. Benji, in his quest to show his love for the Treblemakers, signs up as well.
Later that night, Becca is singing in the shower when Chloe bursts in. Chloe exclaims, “So you can sing!” and forces her into auditioning for the group. Becca reluctantly agrees and makes the group. Jesse makes the Treblemakers as well. Unfortunately for Benji, he does not.
The Bellas meet each other for the first time and it is quite a unique group. The women are all vastly different which goes against traditional Bella values. The group dynamics struggles as Aubrey and Chloe cannot agree on how to run the Bellas.
Becca doesn’t agree with how Audrey runs the Bellas, causing tension between the girls. Somehow, the group makes it through the first round of competition, where they scrape by with a second place finish, enough to move on.
Besides the acapella journey, Becca also goes through a personal journey. While working at the radio station, she starts to slowly fall for Jesse, who has been pining for Becca since the first time they stepped foot onto campus.
The two bond over “The Breakfast Club,” juice pouches and working for the radio station. Unfortunately for Jesse, it will take Becca until the end of the movie to actually confess her feelings.
At their regional performance, Becca goes rogue, gets kicked out of the group by Audrey and the Bellas take third, one spot away from going to nationals. They’re stuck watching Bumper and the Treblemakers gloat, while Jesse stands off to the side watching Becca with sad eyes.
The Bellas go back to their normal lives. Becca buries herself in the radio station, Chloe gets her nodes removed and Aubrey continues being judgemental. However, it is announced that one of the other acapella groups cheated; the Bellas are back in the game.
Chloe lets Becca come back and everyone works together to create the new version of the Bellas with Becca’s help. The routine is switched, the songs become mashups, and the girls take home the national title. Becca and Jesse get their happy ending and Audrey is redeemed.
“Pitch Perfect” has all of the elements a good movie needs. There’s laughter, love, drama, music and a wide array of characters and personalities. Everyone should experience this movie once in their life.
