Pitch Perfect, Channel 4, Saturday, 9pm.
FILM OF THE WEEK:
Is Anna Kendrick shaping up to be the biggest star in contemporary big-screen musicals? In the last year alone, she’s been called on to belt out numbers in The Last FiveYears and Into theWoods, not to mention Pitch Perfect2.
However, most filmgoers probably first discovered that she had a terrific voice to go with her likeable screen presence and crack comic timing when she appeared in the original PitchPerfect, which is getting its terrestrial premiere this week.
It sees Kendrick taking on the role of Beca, who dreams of heading out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the music business – but her dad is insisting she goes to college, and expects her to join at least one extracurricular society.
That’s how the reluctant student comes to find herself signing up with the Barden Bellas, an a cappella group who are trying to rebuild their reputation after their last competition ended in one of the singers vomiting on stage.
Beca starts to make friends among the ranks, but she also has some ideas about how the Bellas can improve their chances in this year’s campus music contests by swapping their staid old repertoire for some inventive mash-ups. Can she get the others to join her, or will there be disharmony in the ranks?
Rebel Wilson offers scene-stealing support as an eccentric Bella, but Kendrick proves hard to upstage.