Well, the Bellas are back and are still on top for the time being. They have been National Champions for three years running and have been invited to perform for the President of United States for his birthday. That is when disaster strikes. The Bellas are richer than they were before which is obvious as to amount of props they use including the disastrous attempt to lower Fat Amy (the never better Rebel Wilson) down from the ceiling on fabric. The ambitious move goes wrong and her costume splits open showing the whole world her lady parts. The repercussions from this are devastating. They cannot recruit new members, cannot compete and are nearly finished before Chloe (Brittany Snow) strikes a deal: they must win Worlds or else they will disband.
So they set out to get better than ever, but others have more important things to do. Beca (Anna Kendrick) is determined to make a name for herself outside of the group and sets out on an internship for the celebrated music producer (Keegan Michael Key) who never truly learns her name.
Fortunately, the Bellas gain a new member: Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) who seeks them out, thank goodness. She is talented but is clumsy and makes several rookie mistakes. She writes her own songs which comes in handy for the championship.
The Bellas are a mess, and finally have to go to a sleep-away camp for bonding and to get their sound back. Here, Chloe finally admits that she's terrified to go out into the real world but she will finally graduate, Cynthia Rose (the underused Ester Dean) announces that she's getting hitched in Maine and all of them are invited. And Beca says that she loves them all and is sorry about her earlier outburst. Fat Amy comes to terms for her very real feelings for Bumper (Adam Devine) which leads to the funniest scene. She sings and rows on a boat to get him back and he takes her back, reluctantly at first, but he comes around and then they have an epic and gross make out session before Bumper's friends fleeing the scene faster than I have ever seen before as the two are on the ground, rolling around, still kissing.
Then, comes Worlds. The Bellas stiffest competition is the German group Das Sound Machine lead by two people, names aren't really that important (Flora Borg and Birgitte Hjort Sorenson) who are just excellent, innovative and technically ambitious without doing too much, which the Bellas had been quite guilty of. Then the Bellas come on and finally Beca's arrangements dial it down and she sought out Emily's help and they perform an original number, something new and different. Beca's boss had liked it too and it works for the international judges.
Sure, the Bellas are finally happy at the end, which is fairly predictable but the ride was ever so enjoyable.
I do have some problems. Sure, Beca and Jesse (Skyler Astin) are still very much together and appear quite happy and supportive of each other, but very little screen time is devoted to them, opting to focus on Fat Amy and Bumper, who have the weirdest dinner date ever and Emily and Jesse's roommate: Benji (Ben Platt) who fall awkwardly in love though he can barely talk in front her which only adds to the already immense awkwardness. I only wish they would have delved deeper into Chloe's emotions as to why she can't move on from life.
Still, it was a wild ride with some interesting editing techniques, showing the Bellas rehearse in a cut screen, showing everyone separately and all at once. Elizabeth Banks does double duty, directing this and reprising her role as Acapella commentator from the first film. She succeeds in both accomplishments.
As for the cameos: keep your eyes peeled Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans for Joe Lo Truglio as an adult acapella member, Katey Segal as Emily's mom, Robin Roberts as a former member of the Bellas and Clay Matthews as another member of an acapella group and yes, he can actually sing. Anna Camp also makes a surprise appearance as the leader of the bonding camp Chloe takes the girls to.
Some funny lines include the still soft-spoken Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) dangling from a tree proclaiming that she sleeps upside down like a bat, and Fat Amy saying that she is fat so that is close enough to being an actual American. There are, of course, many more.
This film is slightly better than the first one, with the supporting cast stepping it up as Kendrick, just as her character, seems distracted. I know she is capable of performances better than this, I've seen them before, but she certainly can sing.
That all being said, the ride really was wonderful and seemed shorter than the hour and fifty minutes it took. I will gladly see this film again and again. Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment