Pitch Perfect

Thankfully, it's not Glee: the Movie. Star Anna Kendrick has Tony-award-nominated musical skills, and she's already proven her acting chops with roles in Up in the Air and 50/50. I was most interested in seeing Kendrick take on this musical medium, since she's slated to star in the film adaptation of the musical The Last 5 Years (a show near and dear to my heart) - but let's get back to Pitch Perfect.

There's a lot that could go wrong here, but director Jason Moore does a nice job of keeping everything in the right key (badum-ching!). Beca resents having to go to college; she'd prefer to go straight to LA and pursue a career as a music producer. Only after striking a bargain with her dad does she give the whole "college experience" a chance, and as we all know from the trailer, she joins the ladies' acapella group - the Barden Bellas. They're one of four on-campus acapella groups, their chief rival being the Treblemakers. The goal, of course, is to win the regional competition at Lincoln Center in New York.

It's about being true to yourself, learning to trust other people, making friends in unexpected places, and taking chances - on people, and in experiences. It manages to avoid the pitfalls and cliches of so many freshman-year and collegiate movies, and even the predictable aspects of the story are understated enough to feel at least somewhat authentic. Kendrick and romantic lead Skylar Astin do a great job keeping the film grounded, even with Rebel Wilson's wild spirit on board.

Going into the film, the cynic in me really wanted to dislike it, but I had hopes that pulled through. It's a really fun film to watch, spares us the soap opera that is Glee and the pretension of other musical series. Pitch Perfect does pretty well to hold up to its name.

Notes

- Director Jason Moore was also nominated for a Tony, for his direction of Avenue Q.

- I actually saw a play Moore directed in New York: Peter Morris's Guardians, starring Katherine Moennig and my personal favorite, Lee Pace.

- Not Anna Kendrick's first movie musical! See also (if you can bear it): Camp

- Also not Brittany Snow's first movie musical - the actress played Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray

- Cast member Anna Camp previously guest starred on Glee

- I'm pretty sure if I find a guy like Skylar Astin's character Jesse, I will have found my soul mate.