Pitch Perfect 3 - D+

​Quick Hit: This series limps out and please let’s let it stay that way.

Ok, so on the last movie, I may have lost my cool a little bit. I was legitimately angry, because it’s so easy to see a good movie hiding amongst the dribble that occasionally crosses movie screens. So it was with a heavy heart that I sat down in the theater to see the final installment – not because it was ending, but because after the last movie, I did not want to watch another Pitch Perfect film. And while I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of laughs I drew from this movie, it still was pretty lazy filmmaking overall, and I think the final grade reflects that.
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To give a quick synopsis, our Bellas are now struggling millennials out in the world. They’re desperately trying to find the spark that they had as the award winning Bellas now that they are no longer Bellas. Cue plot conveniences, and now they are going to go on a USO tour. After the obligatory “Riff-off”, we’re treated to essentially the story of a group trying to stay together while the world is attempting to tear them in their own directions. 

As I stated, it’s rarely difficult to think of a few changes that could have made a movie difficult. Even movies that are completely a waste of my time occasionally have factors which make them interesting, funny, or emotional. Here, I found a few positives to end the series on. The singing performances, while unfortunately not as impressive as the last two, are still solid. The self-awareness that has always been around is now incredibly in your face, which is both good and bad. On one hand, you like to see a movie not take itself seriously when it’s obviously such a money-grab, but on the other hand, even those jokes wear thin by the end.

But hey, this is a movie where John Lithgow is an Australian mobster and has Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy) performing a backflip. I’m not expecting an Academy Award here.
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There is a lot that I didn’t like here, and some of it is just confusing. There’s the unceremonious deletion of the two previous boyfriends in the story, only to be randomly replaced by other faceless men. There’s the inclusion of DJ Khaled, whose face is unfortunately not the most expressive given the role he was tasked with. There’s also a completely tone-deaf (haha, a capella puns) middle act, which consists of a performance montage that really makes no sense with the tone of the film. 

I could probably go on, but in the end, I find it unnecessary, and a waste of my time and yours. In the end, I can only give it a grade, and that grade is a “D+”. Look for trilogy week to end this week with the most recent iteration of the Planet of the Apes.

For more on this film, check out IMDB.