Everyone knows how popular a cappella singing groups are these days. Or at least TV shows about them are.. see GLEE. So, why not make a movie about them. But this is nowhere near GLEE in tone or execution. GLEE is sappy, sugary candy. PITCH PERFECT is edgier comedy. It features Anna Kendrick as a college freshman who doesn’t really want to be there and can’t seem to fit in. She is caught singing in the shower by a member of one of the school’s a cappella groups and she agrees to audition. She gets in, but is a fish out of water. Her think is mix tapes. She wants to go to L.A. to follow her dream. The characters are pretty standard for a high school or college movie. The nerds, the controlling b*&#h, the quiet ones, the fat/funny ones. They’re all here playing their appropriate roles. What makes this different is the skill of the actors. The shinning stars are Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Skylar Astin are all great. Elizabeth Banks (who also co-produced) and John Michael Higgins are the best team of color commentators since Fred Willard in BEST IN SHOW. And that’s the charm of the movie. It’s kind of a mashup of coming of age comedies and a Christopher Guest/Michael McKean/Eugene Levy farce. The singing is great.. all are quite talented. I’m not a fan of vomit scenes (Hollywood seems obsessed with showing us people puking lately), but this has two of the funniest ones I’ve seen on film. The film is funny, sweet and entertaining. in short it’s a movie that is PITCH PERFECT. — Alan Yudman