The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

‘Pitch Perfect 2’ strikes high note at box office, popular rating

By Alli Kaufman
Sports Editor

Too many times Hollywood studios take a great movie and tack the number two at the end of it, giving hope to an audience that loved the original. Unfortunately, what these studios fail to realize is that the two at the end will not do all of the work for them—they actually have to come up with a new plot and a new movie for their sequel. And in the end they end up disappointing the audience that once loved their movie.

I loved Pitch Perfect, I sang (ok, tried to sing) the words to the songs, I fell for the predictable romance and hoped that one day I too could join an a cappella group and find my best friends. Pitch Perfect was a great movie, one I could watch more than once. But most importantly, Pitch Perfect was okay on its own—it didn’t need a sequel. However, one was made, and Elizabeth Banks, co-producer, co-star and director of Pitch Perfect 2, fell into the “sequel trap” just as so many before her.

Pitch Perfect 2 was not a terrible movie—the soundtrack topped the charts and it made $70 million its opening weekend compared to Pitch Perfect’s $60 million revenue for its entire run in the theatres. On paper Pitch Perfect 2 was a success, yet it still fell flat.

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The plot was the same, the jokes were awkward and Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins’ snarky commentating was a lot more offensive than funny. The movie opens with the girls’ senior year and the group performing for none other than President Barack Obama for his birthday, when Rebel Wilson’s character Fat Amy accidentally moons the President and the Barden Bellas are left humiliated and their reputation is ruined. So once again they must redeem themselves, only this time at an International Competition in Copenhagen that no American team has ever won. Throughout this, main character Beca must battle her interest in producing music with the commitment of being in the Barden Bellas.

More than the repetitive plot line, Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins continue to make sexist comments, saying at one point in the movie “This is what happens when you send girls to college,” and though it appears to be the writers attempt at making fun of anti-feminism, these constant lines by Higgins fall flat. These are just examples of the awkward, borderline offensive attempts at humor in a movie that is already trying too hard to be funny. Hopefully Banks doesn’t try to make a Pitch Perfect 3.

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‘Pitch Perfect 2’ strikes high note at box office, popular rating