THE MOVIE MICRO-BINGE

CROONING COMPETITION

Need something to watch on a night when The Voice ain’t playing? Here’s where you can find a few movies that keep the singing contests coming … PITCH PERFECT (2012) Binge, Foxtel

The original is still the best, and not just because it plays like an episode of Glee on steroids. Anna Kendrick plays a rebellious student who reluctantly joins an all-girl a cappella group striving to win a national singing championship. While the song sequences are very good, the trash talking among the competitors is the real highlight. Even Rebel Wilson is intermittently funny here.

SING! (2017) rent via Foxtel Store, Google, Apple

A lightweight, yet lively animated diversion. Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) is a theatre owner who has fallen on hard times. (He is also a koala with an American accent.) Buster’s bright idea to save the day is to stage a singing contest for all comers, which permits the movie to keep cutting from one catchy cover version to another. Co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST (2020) Netflix

Will Ferrell’s latest effort goes OK when it echoes the wanton weirdness and absurdity of his best work. Ferrell and a well-cast Rachel McAdams play a hapless musical duo who accidentally become Iceland’s official Eurovision entry. The real, genuine laughs are widely spaced here, and the musical sequences never quite amuse or entertain like an actual Eurovision oddity might. Overall, a nice enough effort, but hardly necessary. Costars Pierce Brosnan. NEEDING MORE? DUETS (Rent only); SISTER ACT 2 (Disney+); TEEN SPRIT (Rent only).