![]() ![]() ![]() Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins are back via a strained "shooting a documentary" gimmick which is every bit as "How can we get them in this movie?" as it sounds. This cut-to-the-bone narrative is barely a coherent movie. The musical numbers are rooted in a dread of forthcoming failure, so even those aren't fun to watch. Most of the jokes are disparagingly aimed directly at our heroes, in a way that makes us root against the action. There is no real payoff to any of this, and much of the screentime is devoted to how inferior our heroes are at what they do compared to their would-be rivals (once again, Ruby Rose needs her own action movie, stat). But the film, which barely runs 86-minutes before credits and fills up that time with two subplots about daddy issues and two romantic entanglements, attempts to create artificial competition between the Bellas and other musical groups onboard. The core premise, with the Bellas reuniting to sing for the USO after post-college life proves to be a letdown, is fine. Even the musical numbers are rooted in failure and self-pity. No one seems happy to be there, and it as if all parties are resentful of having to make a third film merely because Pitch Perfect 2 was so successful. As a result, the screenplay is a patchwork of lame tropes, missing context and onscreen misery. It creates a narrative where the Bellas are outright losers, places them in a position where they are outmatched and outclassed in every way and then lets us laugh at them or feel sorry for them for nearly the entire running time. While the first two films had their share of self-deconstructionist humor and hyper-aware commentary, this film inexplicably positions all of its jokes and all of its barbs directly at our failing heroes. Pitch Perfect 3 seems to hate its franchise and hate its characters. Nonetheless, the bigger comedies thus far this year have been female ensemble party movies, which this is certainly being sold as. And Pitch Perfect 3 will only be the second live-action musical opening this week alongside The Greatest Showman. The issue is just that there is so much family-fare this season. Sure, that was less than the $300m+ likes of Minions or The Secret Life of Pets, but Illumination only spends around $80m per movie, so it was still a winner. The comparison is Illumination's Sing, which opened over Christmas with a much smaller-than-usual ($35 million Fri-Sun/$75m over six days) debut only to leg it like crazy to a rock-solid $270m domestic total. ![]()
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