I’ve heard of Pitch Perfect for quite a few years now. I frankly ignored it when it first came out and for Universal Pictures, I don’t think any of them ever expected this movie to be the box office sleeper hit that it was. Now granted, some box office hits cater to certain demographics and Pitch Perfect does seem to hold an appeal to women mostly, but I heard of the people who liked it and saw a few memes based on the films. I try to watch anything culturally relevant and a lot of times I am surprised by what I see. Was that true for Pitch Perfect?

The story is about Beca Mitchell who really wants to be a DJ in Los Angeles. Her father, a college professor insists she start school first. She doesn’t seem to like her first days of Barden University very well. For one, her roommate Kimmy-Jin doesn’t like her at all, and doesn’t really speak to her either. Her dad makes her a bargain, if she joins one college club and hates it by the end of the school year, he will help her move and stay in Los Angeles. But she has to fulfill her end of the deal, so she ends up being recruited by a singing club called the Barden Bellas after it’s co-leader Chloe Beale hears her voice.

However The Bellas are not exactly the most prestigious group. Their uptight de-facto dictator of a co-leader Aubrey Posen lost a major contest for the group when she vomited on the audience. Instead of resigning, she still takes a strict command. Her ultimate goal is to defeat the all-male group The Treblemakers in a competition. However with dumb leadership and rather strange choices for cast-members will they even be allowed to compete?

Overall my reaction to Pitch Perfect was mixed. Some of the characters are likable, others are repulsive in different ways, and the music numbers never really impressed me except in very few moments. Pretty much all the songs are from popular music instead of original works (while not 100% original, Anna Kendrick’s version of Cups/When I’m Gone was popularized by the movie) so that’s good and bad. But the movie has a lot dark humor in it so that’s good. So I found it really easy to hate and hard to hate in ways.

Score: B-