Pitch Perfect doesn’t miss a single note

I am generally not one who tends toward hyperbole. Usually I can be trusted not to say things like “The Avengers is the greatest comic book movie of all time,” or “Brad Pitt is a lock for an Oscar for Moneyball.” Obviously, I’m just not that guy – except for all the times when I am. Hopefully, I haven’t burned you from believing my next one: Pitch Perfect is the funniest movie I can remember seeing in a long, long time.

A couple of years ago, Bridesmaids set the world on fire. It was supposed to be the film that heralded in the age where audiences recognized that women could be funny. Personally, I didn’t buy it, nor did I think the film was that funny – sorry, boys and girls, but a grown woman defecating in a sink isn’t really my cup of tea. Furthermore, I knew women were funny long before that, and if I didn’t, I saw just how phenomenal Tina Fey’s writing was in Mean Girls.

Somehow, all of this brings us to Pitch Perfect. It might be hard to believe, but I was willing to throw a couple of elbows to ensure this flick was assigned to me. The main reason? Anna Kendrick. I’m not sure when this talented young actress snuck into my top five favorite actresses, but she did (For those keeping score at home: Anne Hathaway, Emma Stone, Kristen Bell and Natalie Portman … with Julianne Hough and Blake Lively knocking on the door). Kendrick is an absolute delight here, bringing an interesting light to a character that could fall into 18 different kinds of cliché.

The other reason? I’m a sucker for sophomoric frat humor – as long as we keep the bodily fluid jokes to a minimum (I know everyone expects the other reason to be Anna Camp … I’d be lying if I didn’t say she factored in greatly to my desire to see the flick; I mean, I coined ANNAGEDDON going into the screening … but I do want at least TRY to warm people up to the idea that I only go to movies to see actresses I’m attracted to). The generation before me had Porky’s; I had the Frat Pack and Van Wilder. Pitch Perfect may or may not earn a place in the annals of film history next to Old School or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but at least you’re getting the wavelength.

My biggest concern going into the flick was easily Rebel Wilson. I’d seen her in a couple of things – like the aforementioned Bridesmaids – and just didn’t get what all of the fuss was about. I was thus completely unprepared for the several times she almost caused me to fall out of my chair laughing so hard. I’m serious; Wilson was perfectly at home in the role of Fat Amy, delivering many of the film’s funniest lines.

Credit for those lines, and the varying types of humor the script employed, goes to screenwriter Kay Cannon. I’m not familiar with her work on NBC’s 30 Rock, but I can see how her style must mesh with Tina Fey. To me, comedy truly succeeds when it works on several levels, where jokes can take on different meanings – and thus delivering different laughs – on multiple viewings. Obviously, I’ve only had the chance to see Pitch Perfect once, but you could tell how certain jokes had the audience laughing at different times that Cannon achieved that comedic nirvana that I’m such a fan of.

Will you like Pitch Perfect? I surely did. Other than one ongoing joke that was probably rolled out one time too many, it was nearly a perfect film. I’ve not even touched on the collection of cameos, ignored Camp and Brittany Snow’s outstanding performances, or how Elizabeth Banks almost steals the movie several times in her series of brief appearances. This is the kind of movie you’ve got to go out of your way to not laugh at.