The Aca-good. The riff-off is pretty fun. Loaded with cameos and songs, it’s brings a burst of energy that’s desperately needed. Keegan-Michael Key also scores some laughs, playing the boss to Anna Kendrick’s character. And unfortunately, that’s all I got. The rest of it is just boring with one-joke characters and uninspired musical numbers. Everything I loved about Pitch Perfect is really lacking in the sequel.
The Aca-bad: Hailee Steinfeld, who’s been MIA ever since True Grit [2010] takes front and center here. And it her only goal is to plug the song “Flashlight”, which the movie is trying to push as the new “Cups”. It doesn’t work, and the more they do it, the worse it gets. It also doesn’t help that her performance is bland and irritating. All the other characters here are one-note, one-joke, and with very little development. Instead of pushing them forward, they hold them back.
The Aca-ugly. What really makes this disappointing is how formulaic and unoriginal it is. It copies the same film beat-for-beat, which would be fine if there were any surprises along the way. There aren’t and the movie suffers for it. It’s just boring and that’s the cardinal sin this movie commits.
The first film was fresh and fun; the sequel is stale and boring.
