Pitch Perfect 2 is the Rare Comedy Sequel That Really Works

Weird and even a little poignant, it’s a welcome return to the wacky world of the first film.
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© 2015 Universal Studios/Richard Cartwright.

Pity the comedy sequel. All the best jokes have already been told, so sequels tend to strain harder, reach further, to get a laugh, collapsing in on themselves in the process. The Hangover Part II went all the way to Thailand to try to get a laugh. Anchorman 2 flung Ron Burgundy into the realm of Dada absurdity, eventually losing the thread of what made the whole thing funny in the first place. But a precious few comedy sequels, like Pitch Perfect 2, figure out how to tell the same jokes all over again from a slightly different angle, finding a freshness where, really, there should be none.

The first Pitch Perfect, a chipper college a cappella romp, was, thanks to writer Kay Cannon, edgier and weirder than anyone expected from its premise. Cannon has smartly been brought back for the follow-up, and she manages to wring more oddball humor from these cheery kids and all their mouth-music. That music, obviously, gives Pitch Perfect 2 a big leg up over other repeat comedies—the more fun song-and-dance numbers you throw in, the less people are likely to notice all the rehashing. Taking style cues from Glee and Bring It On, the performance scenes in the Pitch Perfect movies are busy but clean, clever little riots of light and sound that in no way resemble real college a cappella performances (the ones I’ve seen, anyway), but fit well within the hyped-up world that Cannon has created.

Credit should also go to PP2 director Elizabeth Banks, who produced the first film and appears as one half of a Best in Show–esque commentator duo with John Michael Higgins. As a director, Banks keeps things moving along briskly, throwing in little camera flourishes here in there, but mostly getting out of the way of the quirky rapport the cast has struck with one another. Pretty much everyone from the first movie is back, including sardonic aspiring music producer Beca (Anna Kendrick), perky seventh-year senior Chloe (Brittany Snow), and Rebel Wilson’s Fat Amy, an unfortunately named character who gets treated a bit too roughly here. The film opens, like the first one did, with an embarrassment for the Barden Bellas, only this time it involves a running joke about Amy’s vagina being a reason for horror and revulsion. This is cheap for what is otherwise an airily feminist endeavor, where boys and romance take a backseat to female bonding and ambition.

Otherwise, though, PP2 bounces along and hits plenty of high notes. (Music!) The Bellas are competing on the international stage this time around (allowing for the introduction of a German a cappella ensemble that’s straight out of “Sprockets”) and there’s a sense of last hurrah in the air. College kids eventually have to graduate, after all, but at least they get to do this one last big thing together. For most of the film, Beca seems to be the only one thinking about the future, scoring an internship with a music label, which creates a credible, thoughtful bit of tension within the group. There’s also the matter of Amy’s opening-scene disaster, which causes a whole heap of problems for the Bellas, threatening their very existence. So the stakes are higher now, as is often the case with sequels.

But that’s all balanced by the sprightly musical numbers, slick mash-ups that have a slightly tinny, overproduced ring to them, but are largely satisfying. The movie is slyly aware of its own need to evolve, as Beca realizes she has to expand her producing beyond just smooshing two songs together. What a happy coincidence then that the Bellas’ newest member, legacy kid Emily (a goofy, appealing Hailee Steinfeld), is an aspiring songwriter. They cut a demo to present to Beca’s record-producer boss (Keegan-Michael Key, doing a lot with a little) and we know, we just know, that we’ll be hearing the gals sing that song by the end of the movie.

When that moment does come, it’s a swoony, even poignant joy. The Pitch Perfect movies are heavy on arch humor and only lightly swat at sentiment, but when Pitch Perfect 2 gets to its bittersweet moments, it’s surprisingly affecting. Something about all these bright, likable kids singing their way into the unknowns of adulthood kinda got me. They don’t close the college chapter of their lives perfectly—much of the Amy stuff is needlessly shaming; David Cross shows up at one point to do some unpleasant gay shtick—but their last number is a showstopper, which, really, is what we came to see. This is a rare comedy sequel that works, so let’s hope they don’t do a third.

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