The Rewatchables - ‘Pitch Perfect’ With Juliet Litman, Jodi Walker, and Kate Halliwell

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

Aca-scuse me? The Ringer’s Juliet Litman, Jodi Walker, and Kate Halliwell cause treble as they revisit the 2012 musical comedy ‘Pitch Perfect’ starring Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Brittany Snow, and Anna Camp. Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to Barton University. You call yourself that, Amy? Yes, it tweets like you don't do it behind my back. We need eight perfect singers if we want to be champions. Sir to be a ride. They may not be perfect. He should be taking risks. But on September 28th, they'll pitch-lap the competition.

Has remix his business. It's not about the money, money, money, money. We don't need your money, money, money, money. Pitch perfect. I'm also good at pirate dancing. Select theaters start September 28, Rudy Peechee 13. Welcome to the rewatchables. I'm Juliet Litman.

I'm here today with my ringer-dish colleagues, Kate Hallowell and Jody Walker. We are here on the 10th anniversary. of the era-defining or era-capping film? Pitch perfect. Jody, Kate, how would you define this movie's role in the last 25 years of movies and TV shows that feature music? Jody, you go first.

Wow, that's a very big question, Juliet. I mean, it's kind of more interesting, I think, to think of it as an era-capping movie and then an era dwindling movie. because, you know, it came out after glee. It came out after a show that is near and dear to my heart, The Sing-Off, which I will surely be bringing up later, a competitive acapella show hosted by Nick Lachey.

So it kind of like coasted off the fame of those, but then just made them so much bigger. And then just continued to reiterate itself in an increasingly failing way, which is unfortunate and disappointing. But for me, pitch perfect is hugely the most defining musical that's not a musical movie. I'm really glad you brought that up because I think that's like something crucial for us to dig into here at the top. Pitch perfect, not a musical. Kate, can you think of another movie featuring music that's been as impactful and spawned so many sequels without actually being a musical?

It's hard to. It certainly is hard to. When I was looking up research for this, it did take the crown from School of Rock as the highest grossing musical comedy. And I guess that's another one where people, not sequels so much, but like, you know, they made a play and they have reunions. And that was kind of a big thing for a long time. But I would say in terms of like the era of, let's say, Glee to pitch perfect and then what

followed. I was a freshman in high school when Glee premiered. I was in show choir. and I was starting my senior year of show choir slash concert choir when Pitch Perfect came out. So this, like, I really lived it. You know, like I, the way that these two things sort of took over a very specific brand of annoying person like myself was felt very deeply in my high school experience and I guess following with this movie.

So I would agree that it's kind of era capping, but it made waves and it stuck around for a while. It really did. It really did. And certainly not a perfect movie. I think we've a lot to discuss when we get to what's age of the worst. But you are referring to the sort of like theater kid and aquapella kid as like the sort of annoying kid. But I want to throw in a couple others that I think that on my rewatch, I kind of forgot about, which is the other era that I think this is kind of capping is the amateur mashup where you could like acquire some fame.

I hadn't thought about the DJ Girl Talk in a very... very long time. And in fact, couldn't remember Girl Talk's name, but did Google him. And the sort of the melding of mashup culture, which was, which was really, I think, came to the fore because of Glee, not that Glee invented it by any means and not to steal credit from the many very talented DJs, famous and not. But this movie also injects that idea of like the hit person who's like, oh, you can meld two songs together and see what happens. So not only do we have to contend with theater kids, Acapella Kids, but we now also, and also radio,

college radio kids, but also mashup fans. Yeah, like Amateur SoundCloud. Yeah, DJs. Even before SoundCloud, though, it's like, it's kind of funny. Like, I didn't realize this until I went back and read some of the reviews, but this movie really came out under the shadow of Glee, which by 2012 was really, um, it's, it's value. and sort of its role in culture

was already dwindling. Jody, do you think, I know that you were a big gleehead, having just gone to see Leah Michelle on Broadway and Funny Girl, do you think of pitch perfect and glee together? Juliet, first of all, between girl talk and exposing me as a,

I believe we're called Gleeks, not Gleeheads. I am just getting like own after own merely listening to you talk about this movie and having just watched it and thought about how annoying I was in college. It really is a movie for annoying people, but I don't think about them together. I thought about them together in watching it back, and I don't remember them overlapping so much at the time that I watched it. I watched Glee in college, and I had just graduated college when Pitch Perfect came out.

And so for me, and I think for a certain generation, pitch perfect hits on a very personal level, which is that it's kind of, it's as much as much. is it's a music movie, it's a college movie. And, like, those were the things that were hitting over and over while I was watching. And it was like, oh, yeah, Acapella are the cool kids of nerds. Like, that, like, so many, and, like, watching that orientation staff girl pop out right at the beginning, I mean, I was looking in a mirror. Like, that's very upsetting for me as a member of orientation staff to have to remember that, like, that's what I was like, they get so many of those stereotypes, but the sort of embarrassing

of looking back at college and realizing that you thought you knew everything and you really didn't know anything, there's an earnestness balanced with a self-awareness in pitch perfect and also occasionally a complete lack of self-awareness, which we can talk about, that is not in glee. Glee is a satire. Like, Glee is over the top on purpose. And high school glee clubs aren't like that. College acapella groups are just like this. Like, I completely recognized my college experience in this movie.

I was not in Acapella. I'm not a remotely talented performance. But I was obsessed with it. And where I went to school, there was a very vibrant Acapella scene. And I was like, I was like Ben Platt. I was like an Acapella Groupie. I didn't want them to know who I was, though, because I didn't think being a groupie was cool. But I was so into it.

I would go to like the midnight shows on Friday night. I still listen. In fact, this is a nod to Kate Hallowell, but I listened to my. favorite acopalah group this morning to prepare for this straight no chaser i knew was coming god we are all we are all terrible indiana university zone isn't it insane juliet that you can have what you feel is such a unique experience and you are absolutely describing me and kate as well like you can't sing a lick upset well kate can sing because she was in show choir i don't know if you've heard it's so upsetting that that is a that is a non-unique experience.

It's why we're qualified. They're a qualification. It is true. And I think that's a really good point, Jody. And Kate, I'm curious that this resonated for you as well. But I do think this is actually a pretty good representation of college. And I was trying to think of other movies that I think do it well. But even like I remember when I was a freshman, like people did used to make jokes about rape whistles.

like, and that being one of the first things that happens in the movie, while perhaps in poor taste, actually, like, rings very true. Yeah. Don't blow it unless it's actually happening. Like, okay. Yeah, I think, I think the most accurate display about, like, of college in this movie is how they all think they're really cool.

And, like, watching it, like, obviously the joke is that they're not. But, like, right. Like, being cool within your little, like, click and your, like, little group in college. In your own world. Yeah. It just was like the tone of that is just like very, very accurate. Yeah. And I do think that sort of like the array of like all the different groups

and then like trying to find yourself when you're 18 and you've just gotten on campus and you're like, what does my future hold? That does ring true. I alluded to the rape whistle joke. You know, this movie's place in like cultural memory, I think has evolved a lot from 2012.

First of all, it came out September of 2012 at the end of the month, hence why we're doing this now. It was made on a $17 million budget and gross $115 million. So that's a slam dunk in sports parlance. It did really well on DVD and also on HBO. It was when it went to HBO the following year in 2013, it was its top performing movie doing better than The Dark Night Rises and Ted, which is two huge movies. I know. I was shocked to read that.

but it speaks to how this was like a true word of mouth hit. And I saw it in theater twice, in part because I'm such a huge member of the Britney Snowhive, more on that to come. But it really did like grow over time. As I was prepping for this, I saw that Howard Stern talked about it on his show and how he really liked it.

And that was like a watershed moment for the movie's life. And it kind of was like slowly going mainstream from teenage girls and then filtering up through culture as someone. much culture often does. Roger Ebert, he had more questions than anything, but he wrote, Anna Kendrick is adorable, young version of the angelic Marissa Tomei. And it must be said that Bella is a first-rate group with choreography so crisp that Bob Fosse couldn't have drilled them to move more precisely.

You may be reminded of a Broadway musical. This is like a shocking review to me. This is like, that is not accurate, I don't think. The choreography is terrible. It all turns. It's really embarrassing for the treble makers, but I do think we must talk about Anna Kendrick before going any further.

Anna Kendrick is a force in this movie. I'm not sure she should be. Not sure that she actually was properly cast, but this is the beginning of my Anna Kendrick memory. Were either of you big Anna Kendrick fans before this? Because she had a bunch of credits. I knew her as the girl from Twilight who was in the movie with George Clooney.

at the Oscars. But I was not like an Anna Kendrick head. I think I just thought it was funny. Like her Twilight bit role to Oscars was funny. And so that was why I was aware of her, but I wasn't like a fan. I was a big up in the air fan. Okay. Like I loved that movie up in the air.

I did too. That's like a controversial take actually. Did you know that? No. It's a good movie. I think so too. I really like it. But there's like a large group of people that don't like that movie.

I don't think it was like. I don't know. It's just, I feel like movie snobs don't like up in the air. One of those people is my mom who's not a movie snob. She'll watch anything. But I recently, like somewhat recently watched up in the air with my mom. And she was like so upset by kind of how bad all the people are that she, like, the situation that she just couldn't take it. But I was so charmed by Anna Kendrick.

And I knew her from Twilight where I was also very charmed by her. She's a very charming actor. and she can use that, like, a real unique spiritedness about her in a lot of different ways. And so it is interesting that she was cast as this sort of, what does Anna can't call her at one point? She's like, she's a little too edgy or something that's just nothing that Anna Kendrick is, but is something she's a little too alternative for the Bella's. And that's not Anna Kendrick at all. Like they have to put like so many chokers on her and so many little bracelets and have her put her little headphones on to make her be like this somewhat alternative presence.

And we can get to how embarrassing I find all the, all the DJing stuff. But yeah, I was, I like her in this role. I think she's well cast. Despite how I think her having to play up that stuff is a part of it. She's a person pretending to be something. She's a college freshman. who's trying really hard to seem like she's not like the other girls. And I think the journey of her discovering that being like the other girls

is like the best part of being a girl in college is, you know, plays to her strengths. Mm-hmm. Yeah. She was nominated for a Tony at 12. She's a real theater kid. She's in the movie camp. She, you know, if you, you know, we all like theater on this podcast. So, like, she's really in the mix.

She was then shortly thereafter. into the woods. She was in the last five years, which is an amazing musical and a bad movie. She's, she, I think she went to, no, she didn't go to stage door manner, but she's like, always been a part of the musical scene. And I, what I actually thought was, like, really well done was how much of a tryhard she actually is. Because are we all? It's like too much makeup and, like, outfits that look bad, but you think they're cool. And, uh, the tattoo that you see, like, in a few shots. And you're just like, wait, Kendrick has a tattoo and then you pause it and you're like, oh, wait, that's definitely fake.

So it's hard to, it's hard to really get across the idea that you're not trying when you're wearing that much eyeliner. You tried. You got up 10 minutes early and you tried. And Juliet, I think I saw in my half-ass internet research that, uh, that she did go to stage door with Skylar Aston. Oh, so I was right. She did go.

My bad. Yeah, he definitely, he definitely went. Definitely went. Um, we're going to talk a lot more about Anna Kendrick later. but it's just like actually an incredible cast. I mean, in this movie, we also have Britney Snow, Elizabeth Banks,

Ben Platt, who's arguably the most successful person in this movie. Yeah. Skylar Aston. John Michael Higgins. Like, and just so many more people. And Esther Dean,

who plays Cynthia Rose, is like one of the most successful songwriters of the last 25 years. She wrote many hits for Rihanna, among others. Like, it's just like an incredible. incredibly talented cast.

It's kind of wild. And yet, this is, like, the defining movie for many of them. I mean, for, for Anna Kendrick, it was, it was, like,

big enough for her to do three of these. It's kind of amazing that she was both in, the Twilight trilogy and this. I can't, it's like, if you were just like Anna Kendrick, she was in Twilight,

and then three pitch perfect, like, what would you guess her net worth is? Like, very high. Yeah. She's got that Broadway work ethic. Not a lot to do. And I think she's in,

maybe two of the twilights and she has like two lines but she is in two she was actually she was allowed to make this movie though she also had to be a new moon um but the the twilight people allowed her to find the time to do it um the major piece we haven't talked about this is uh you know while it was really like a big hit when it came out i think the rewatching and the continued scrutinizing of it especially as the subsequent sequels got much worse was there's also just a lot casual racism in this movie, which when you go back and you read the initial reviews, it's really just not touched

at all. And 10 years ago, really wasn't that long of a period of time. But I think if this movie was released now, there'd be much deeper examination of the character Lily, who is the Asian woman who speaks at a really low volume. And also Anna Kendrick asking her Asian roommate,

Kimmy Jen, if she speaks English at all. And I, you know, we'll go back to what's age the worst, but I think it's just kind of important to acknowledge that up top since it's, as I was watching, it's also like, there's so, there's jokes about like so many different groups that are just not rebutted. Like, Kate, how did that, how did that land for you on this 2022 rewatch? Not great. I have a whole list of them, uh, of things that did not go over well. There's a lot of, like, homophobic jokes and like some like, like, predatory lesbian characters

and obviously like fat phobia. Fat Amy has a bunch of, like, just, just thinking we didn't even I mentioned Rebel Wilson. Yeah. It's just, and it's not in like a self-aware way. Like, I just watched Do Revenge on Netflix, which also like has jokes about a lot of different groups, but like in a way where either you know that it's wrong or like it is rebutted in some shape or form. And like it just was very obvious that this, it was not great and has not, does not look good.

I do get the feeling that in 2012, they thought they were doing it in a self-aware way. Like they are, the movie is often attempting to sort of. have its cake and eat it too. If you can even say that about like fat phobia, racism, and homophobia, they have their most outlandish characters make these jokes that are like wink, wink, we obviously know this is wrong, but it's still funny because isn't it funny to joke about this? And even the character of Fat Amy, like, we can get more into this, but that they have her say that line, like, I call myself Fat Amy so Twig Bitch is like, you don't do it first.

that is in some way sort of modern and like reclaiming the word fat. And then it is increasingly less modern and much more problematic as the movie continues to make fun of her in the way that the character does not. And then also uses her to make fun of like punch down constantly.

So those are tough. Yeah. And I think also like a, you know, one of the reasons Fat Amy is not offensive at first blush is because Rebel Wilson's really good. Like she is so good in this movie and owns their performance. But there's even such a cloud around Rebel Wilson because beginning with this movie,

her age became a controversy. And it is true that she lied about her age to rehearse. But who cares? Like, how many people in Hollywood lie about their age? Like, it's got to be countless. I might start lying about my age as I get older.

So, you know, it's like a real testament to her and I feel bad that I forgot to mention her when we were listing this amazing cast. But she's really good in this movie. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed. I think when I first watched this, I was like, okay. For some reason, I think she annoyed me. And so I had it in my head still that she was annoying in this movie.

And then just literally yesterday watching it back, I was like, I'm having a great time. She's really good. She carries a lot of it. She does. She really does. It's also like another flaw of the movie is that I think you're supposed to really dislike Aubrey, who is played by Anacamp. But she's in some ways, like, the least mean.

Like she actually doesn't really make fun of people. She doesn't crack jokes about people. And she's just really focused on Acapeella. I have a hottest take related to that. Yeah. Let's hear it. Let's hear it now, Kate. Well, it's also Anna Kendrick related.

Should I do it now? Sure. Anna Kendrick's character is the true villain of this movie. She's the fucking worst. Yeah. She really, she comes into this institution, this Acapella institution. It's like, I'm too good for this. I don't want to be here.

She tells Anna Camp, you're not. not the boss of me. She literally is. She's the leader of this group that you chose to join. You don't have to be in it. She doesn't wear her hair the right way for their first performance, the one that they do outside. Everyone else has their hair in the bun and hers is down. I'm like, I put your hair in a bun. Like, are you too good for an updo? She does the classic ad lib during the performance, which is insane. Insane. Like, I even kick her out of the group right there. It was insane, but good. But also insane. I'm like, what are you doing? But if you were an actual student singing an a cappella song, that would throw you off so much. It would derail everything.

I'd stop singing. I'd cry on stage. It's a psychotic thing to do. It's psychotic. Her whole thing about like, I hate movies. Like, Vader actually means father in German. It's like, okay, you knew the ending of Star Wars? Fuck off. Like, I don't, can't deal with that. Do you want a prize? And then she, like, gets mad at Skyler Ashton, who's a great guy, great boyfriend for calling her dad to bail her out of jail. She is there. Does she think that he had the money for that? I mean, he's in college. He's trying to help.

I didn't ask you to call him. I'm like, he's your dad. You're in jail. You're 18 years old. Not everyone is going to college for free, Becca. Becca, who also is like, oh, I want to move to L.A. I hate my free college education. She's the worst.

The way she talks about being a DJ at the beginning when she talks, but she's like, I don't want to go to college. I want to move to L.A. and work for a record label. Dad. I can't. Anna Camp should have kicked her out far sooner than she did and was completely valid. I think what you're,

I agree with this take fully. And I think what you're getting at is sort of what, along with all of the offensive humor that we now identify as offensive humor is like, at the heart of this movie is an essential meanness that is just not part of movies these days. Like I, too, just watch Do Revenge. And I had a great time. Cammy Mendez and Maya Hawk were both excellent.

I love. I love my hawk. And I really, Cammy Mendez now. I'm not in the Riverdale hive, but they were working on. I thought she totally stole the movie. And I haven't watched her in anything. I am a new fan of her and her eyebrows. Same.

Yeah. She was fantastic. But like at the heart of that movie is like ultimately a story about friendship. At the heart of Pitch Perfect is like actually a story about judging each other, which in some ways is very true to college. But they just don't really make movies like that anymore. Right. I guess to play devil's advocate, it is also a story about growth.

And like, if you can't start in a bad place, then you can't grow into a good place. And Becca starts, I do find that meanness pretty honest about some parts of the college experience. And also maybe about the millennial experience. I mean, it's very possible that Gen Z is just, it's not just possible. It is, you know, provably accurate that they are more enlightened than us. And like in 2012, you know, I think certain people were going into college with that mindset. And I find, I don't find it personally relatable as an overly earnest Acapella fan. But the way that Becca is, you know, just needs so badly for people to know that she's different and that she's better than this, that's a real person.

I mean, the jokes they're making in this movie are not real or at the level of a college student. but the archetype of Becca is a very real person. And so the journey of watching her grow into someone who appreciates these people, I think there's something to be said for that within the meanness. But that is also a little ham-fistedly done. And she is so mean to Skylar ass, so mean to Jesse throughout. And she's so mean. Delightful.

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Pick up these may apply. All right. First up, most rewatchable scene. I think this is going to be pretty short discussion because it's very clear the best scenes in this movie is when they're singing because the singing is really fun.

But Juliet, they sing so much. They do. There are a lot of good singing scenes. The riff off in the pool is probably the most famous scene. I feel like I watched it on YouTube a lot. It's still my favorite scene in the whole movie. Shorty get down, good Lord. Baby got them open all over town.

Strigley bitch you don't play around, cover much ground, got game by the pound. Getting paid is a forte. Each and every day to play away. I can't get her out of my mind. Oh wow. Okay. I like the way you work. No diggity.

I got a bag. What does No Digity not? not solve? Is there ever a time in which no diggedy does not make things better? I mean, I absolutely love it. Who do you think wins the riff off if not for saying it's instead of it? What's the best song that is sung? I do love the no digity scene. Although Anna Kendger's rapping has not aged well. No, definitely not. The homies got Abby collab creations bump like acne, no doubt. I put it down, never slouch. As long as my credit about your dog couldn't catch me. Straight up.

Tell me, who can stop when Drey making moves? Attracting honey is like a magnet, giving them meagasms with a mellow accent. Still moving the flavor. I don't imagine that was perceived well at the time. Like, I can, I can, I have some pretty vivid memories of cringing in the theater watching this for the first time. That was one of them.

And then all the vomit was extremely terrible for me. I remember telling, warning my best friend about the vomit scenes. Horrible. But I don't know. They so. clearly, the bell is so clearly taken in the end, but it's the troublemakers. The troublemakers always win. Skyler Ashton singing it feels like the first time, that's good for me.

I know I can't help myself. You're all in the world to me. It feels like the first time. I find him quite attractive in that scene when he's like really showboating and taking it like, just like dancing on his jacket. I'm just like, this is Skylar Asson at his finest, which. Absolutely. You guys part of the Spring Awakening Hive?

Of course. I never seen Spring Awakening. I actually haven't either. He launched a fame from that alongside Jonathan Graff, Leah, Michelle, the guy from the newsroom, Jody What's his name again? John Gallagher Jr.? John Gallagher Jr., thank you. I also, regarding Anna Kendrick's rapping, it's not so much rapping as like spoken word.

And it's like, though that song... She thinks it's rapping. And so while no digity covers a lot of, a lot of blemishes, She still messes it up quite badly. Yeah. Once she gets into the singing part, then it really takes off and it gets good. But there isn't, I mean, it's supposed to be awkward.

And I agree. I think the riff off is the most rewatchable scene. Yeah. Here are a couple other potentials. Okay. The auditions. Since you've been. Hi.

Jesus. Thanks to you. Now I get. I guess what I want. I mean, again, love the audition. Love a medley. Since you've been gone, is probably Dr. Luke's best song. And Kelly Clarkson has made it timeless.

And you get a little taste of everyone. Again, Skylar Aston really charming. And also, Esther Dean is excellent in her performance, her rehearsal, or her audition, excuse me. It's just really fun. I love that scene. I mean, we have to talk about that the audition scene. in cups. Cups.

Anna Kendrick doing cups, which proceeded to haunt my dreams and all middle school cafeterias for the next decade. I mean, like, you could not escape that song. And I don't remember being so taken with it

when I saw it or thinking, I thought it was good and it kind of sets her apart. But the way that that song caught on and the cup method of singing was unreal. When I'm gone,

when I'm gone you're gonna miss me when I'm gone you're gonna miss me by my hair you're gonna miss me everywhere oh I know you're gonna miss me when I'm gone The Cups song is a huge part

of this movie's success. Thank you for bringing it up. It was, it went to the number one on, or the soundtrack as a whole went on the Billboard top 100 and it made it to the number one spot. And then Cubs spent 30,

two weeks on the charts by itself, which is completely insane. And there were two versions, the movie version and then like a pop version that's not Acapella. I recall the music video really well. I also think another reason why this movie is like really era capping is do you guys remember the

similar version of Call Your Boyfriend or Call Your Girlfriend? That was the cover of the Robin song by I believe two women in Sweden who also do like a very sort of like gentle home instrument version. That went super viral in 2009, 2010. And this was like the sister to that performance. And I think it's sort of like one thing about this movie is it's really on the cusp of like the

YouTube era where it's just before YouTube completely takes over and like just becomes like the most important platform. And as a result, it's like able to take a lot of popular things from YouTube like mashups and and aquapela and like make it its own. And I think Cups is a huge, huge part of why this movie was so popular with young women because they could do it. I couldn't do it either, but I worked at a candy store in the mall my senior year of high school and like had to listen to popular radio every day, like whatever was on the radio. And this song would play multiple times a day on whatever the top 40 radio station was. And I could not escape it.

It was on a lot. It was like a radio smash hit. It cups. Fucking Anna Kendrick. I did a lot of babysitting during this era. the many demands that I received from tween girls to teach them how to do this song to which I replied, I cannot do this. I do not have the musicianship. I do not have the dexterity. I cannot play these cups. I can't do it either, but people did do this at camp and sang this song specifically. So I was like,

oh yeah, I know that from camp. So, and Anna Kendrick also, as we've discussed, went to camp. So very familiar. But I mean, even if it's not the most rewatchable scene, it's probably the most famous thing to come out of this movie is her doing the Cups song. And also, sucks that it's called the Cups song now. It's called When You're Gone or when I'm Gone or whatever. It's like a pretty old. It's like a hundred-year-old song. Yeah, it's like a folk song. I know. Yeah. That's tough. My other nomination was Jesse, Skyler Aston, doing his whole movie bit for her when they're sitting together on the lawn and he brings the DVDs out of his backpack. It's very sweet, earnest, very Dawson's Creek type of moment.

And I really liked it. I mean, he's obviously a gem, this Jesse. I don't, We don't know why he could potentially like this mean woman, but so be hit. I do want to say also for most rewatchable scene, I think the final medley is pretty fun. It is. It's very rewatchable. It's also like definitely their, obviously their best performance because they've finally taken Becca's advice. Yeah. I think I'm being outvoted here.

But as far as what I rewatch the most often, and I want to be clear that it is quite often, it is the final performance. their finals performances, like way, way more than the riff-off. There's something kind of awkward about the riff-off that is intentional, but like there's an awkward timing, you know, where they're coming in and interrupting each other, and there's Anna Kendrick rapping, and even she knows the rapping's not going well, that, like, I personally am not trying to reiterate all the time in my own head, but the finals performances, you know, they've worked so hard, they've perfected them. That's for me.

That's what I'm rewatching. Yeah. I like the Troublemakers final one too. Yes, it is good. Except we'll talk about Ben Platt. But the one thing that I really like about the finale for the, the bella's is they've all let their hair down. And then in the middle of the performance, Anna Camp literally takes her hair down and it takes off her jacket.

Yeah. She's like really having fun. She like takes off her blazer and there's another blazer under it, but she's really letting loose. We're so proud of her. Here's my problem with the final medley. I don't like the Breakfast Club song, and I don't like the Breakfast Club. And it just doesn't really

work for me. I understand it as like a plot device. It's nice by like get to get Jesse's attention. But don't you forget about me is just, I think, an incredibly overrated song. And that kind of that brings a damn. Julia, we as usual, have such wildly differing opinions on this

that I will wait to the appropriate time to get to. But I could not disagree with that too. I don't like the breakfast club, but it's a great song. One shout out for best, most rewatchable scene that I will say that I think of when I think of this movie is, is Britney Snow and Anna Kendrick in the shower scene singing titanium? Yeah. Shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium.

Shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titan. It's like combining music. and being funny in a way that all of the other music scenes don't do because they're so focused on like the choreography and stuff. I really like that scene. I was slowly disturbed to find out that they filmed that scene completely naked. I also read that.

Doesn't seem necessary? No. And it hasn't aged well that Britney Snow walks into Anna Kendrick's shower and won't leave when asked. That's not great. I'm not saying that's great. And then the guy comes over there. standing there naked?

Like, why did they have to do that? When he says, you have a really lovely voice, that is funny. When she says she likes titanium because it's her lady jam and then she raises her. And the iconic quote, you know David Geta? Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for bringing this up. Oh, my God.

Never is Becca more embarrassing than when she, with stars in her eyes, says, you know David Geta? I am nude. You were saying titanium, right? You know David Gedda? Have I been living under a rock? Yeah. That song is my jam. My lady jam.

That's amazing. It is. The most popular person in 2012? Unbelievable. Yeah, girl. Yeah. She knows David Getta. It's terrible.

I too love that line. It's probably her most embarrassing moment, which is hard to pin down because she does have a lot of them. But I got to say, like, it just doesn't get worse than that. It's really uncomfortable. Really tough. But, you know, again, he was, like, more of his own headliner than, I guess, like, a girl talk.

So perhaps that's why. But, all right. Well, Jody doesn't agree with us, but fine. It's the ripoff. This leads us into what's age the best, which is, I actually thought that was a really good depiction of a dorm bathroom and dorm life of taking a shower where you'd, like, bring or caddy and just, you know, hope to get some personal time.

And in general, we've kind of talked about this, but some of the, like, minutia of college life is depicted really well. Yeah. Yeah. I do agree with that.

That's also what I had top of my list for what's aged best is the college experience. Yeah. Juliet, I know that you found it charming when Jesse Skyler Aston was talking about movies. And he is charming. But I would call that his kind of worst moment because it's like most stereotypical college,

like, oh, a college guy makes movies his entire personality and then tries to teach a girl about them on the quad, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. But he's not supposed to be cool. So, like, that makes perfect sense. But just sort of, you know, that, like, earnestness to all these characters while also having that self-guardedness,

I think is so true to college. And I haven't been in college in a while at this point, but I have to imagine it's still true. So watching it then and watching it now, that all clicked in. I think because it's so Dawson Lerie to me, it was like a joke. I didn't even like associate it with someone I actually know. But like Dawson Lerry says that with like 1,000% more earnestness. And it's like super annoying.

So to hear it from Skylar Aston and like, you know, he's also really focused on the musical, like the needle drops is like a lot more charming than horrible Dawson who just like walks around with his stupid camera. Sure. If we hold that up against Dawson Leary, he is definitely, definitely less annoying. And it's not annoying so much as it's just true. And like listening to an 18-year-old talk about their knowledge of movies is like embarrassing and sweet and all the things that college students are. Next, I know we're all going to agree on this. Brittany Snow is a redhead. I believe she debuted this color hair in this movie after being a blonde, an American dream. and hair spray was before. And she looks phenomenal. In fact, I find her distracting when she's on stage because she's so pretty as a redhead or on screen, I should say. I mean, how you ever love Britney Snow more than you do in this movie, Kate?

I love Britney Snow. I think she's amazing. She's very underrated. And yeah, she looks unbelievable as a redhead. She really, really does. And she really took it on the road. Like, I am happy for her to co-op my. own personal hair color for this film and then make it her own. The reason the tell that she's not

a natural redhead in this movie is at the end, towards the end of the movie, she's wearing a red shirt and she has like literally never looked more beautiful. And if you are a natural redhead, it's very hard to wear red. But she's killing it. She looks so great. Ten years later, she's still at redhead. I'm on her Instagram right now. Yes, she is. I was aware of that because I've been checking on her a lot in the wake of her separation from her husband Tyler Staneland who disrespect her deeply on selling the OC.

So, Joady and I discuss that in the Ring and Reality TV podcast. Check it out. Juliet and I are attempting to discuss Britney Snow on as many ringer feeds as we possibly can. I think this makes three. We're up to three.

Incredible. She's also the most likable character like hands down. She is I have nodes and I made a courageous decision speeches are really funny. She's nice to everyone. I don't think that she does not crack any mean jokes,

and she's just sort of like the ultimate glue guy in this movie and does it while looking absolutely phenomenal. Yeah. Also, like some tasteful queer baiting. I'm not above that. Right. I love it. This movie is walking a not so fine line of what they're handling well,

and the queer baiting is pretty good. With Britney pulls it off. And Becca, Brittany is pulling it off. I'll also say, you know, we talked about that this is like kind of a mean movie. There's a lot of meanness in it. But I do love the breaks with Britney Snow's Chloe and also with Skyler Aston's Jesse. How nice he is to bingey. I find, like, very heartwarming that he, you know, he asks no questions.

The first thing he says to him when he walks into the dorm room and sees the magic box, the Star Wars, the hamsters, the everything is like, you must be kidding. And then it's kind of like he zips it up and knows that that was mean and just tries to be a naturally nice and inclusive person. And I found that really lovely.

It's true. I have to say everything about Skylar Aston in this movie has aged well for me. Like actually, like, better than when I first watched it. Like, I appreciate him more now 10 years later. He's just, he's very sweet, as you said. The only thing that hasn't aged well is that he's not in,

everything. Like he should have been in rom-coms after this. It's outrageous that he wasn't. He's so charming in it. I know. You know, he's also a friend of The Ringer. He's appeared on the mass man show a few times. He's a big wrestling fan. Did you guys watch the, what's that show on NBC with the extraordinary playlist? He's a... Oh, yeah. Extraordinary playlist. Yeah. And I heard that show is fun and that he's great at it. I just haven't watched it. He's been in lots of fun and interesting. interesting stuff and, you know, I think continues to kind of waffle between music and not music. I'd just like to see him in a million more things and, like, a definitive rom-com lead. Agreed. Let's get them on Netflix and a rom-com. We talked about this already, but I thought

this also captured, like, just the sort of, like, ludicrousness of mashup culture from people like Becca. Just really reminded me of my early 20s and, like, people were like, have you heard about the sick mashup? but actually knew nothing about music. I had that too in terms of age the best. Just like mashup culture was big for a while. I also just sort of forgot about it. I was like, oh, right, mashups were a thing. Despite a lot of this music being 10 years old and being very of a time,

watching it now, it doesn't really feel outdated because these were such huge songs that they're still imprinted in my memory in a way that makes them somewhat timeless. We'll check back in in 20 years, but the matchups were still hitting for me. Pitbull is forever, you know? We'll come back to the music in general in a second. But anything else that's aged the best...

Oh, I have actually one more. Of all the bad comedy that's, like, offensive, I actually think that the Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins commentary is very funny. And, like, in general, hits pretty well still. Did that work for you guys? I would say that it was very funny, but it is half okay.

and half completely offensive. Like the way that they're talking about 18-year-olds is absolutely not okay. They kind of say that, though, right? Like, they're kind of the only ones that are like doing a little bit more self-aware. Sure, sure, sure. But does saying it make it then okay? No. But no, there is that sort of like, you know, they're obviously trying to bring sort of like a best in show sensibility to the announcers.

And it is really funny. And, you know, we may get to this, but there were other people who were originally going to play the gale role. And she's so good in it. Yeah, she is. It's just, she's great. Yeah. And I think part of the reason why that works is because John Michael Higgins is an improv actor and they made up a lot of that. And, I mean, did you guys see the breakup?

I love him singing in the breakup. So this was really, like, tonally made sense for me. Lose yourself. He's just so funny. I love him. He is a lot. What else age the best? The only other thing I have down is that it's like very in passing, but one of like the only somewhat progressive things that they do in this movie is very self-righteously say that the Bella's only do songs made famous by women.

And I don't remember like ever catching that before. And I was like, oh yeah, they do only do songs made famous by women. Great. Until the end. Yeah. Until the end, in which point they compromise their morals. So great. Yeah.

Yeah, Becca leads them down this path of just, you know, abandoning the woman songwriter or the woman performer. Kate, anything else on your list? I had mass ups as my last one. Okay. Great. All right. We're moving on to the speed round. There's one they'll have to spend a little more time on.

But the Slow Ride Award for Best Needle Drop. I mean, there's so many great songs in this movie. It's hard to pick. But I'm just going to throw out to begin with since you begun. I think it is like just one of the most unassailable pops. of all time. It is just fantastic. It's so great.

And the thing that I love about that scene, the audition scene with since you've been gone, is there are so few main characters in it. Like, Fat Amy and Jesse are the only main characters in it. And then, you know, there are a few from the ensemble that are auditioning. But there are also just a lot of randos that we've never seen before and we never see again. And they bring, like, just as much to that needle drop moment.

Like the guy singing it in an operatic tone. is so funny. Like, you didn't want him? You don't want that in your tribal makers. What's up? And you didn't want Benji? I mean, I guess they just had a little more to choose from, but the troublemakers are very mean.

Very mean. I think they also don't choose Benji because he's weird. Like, that's a nice thing about Skylar Aston's characters. He leans into people's weirdness, and he just no problem with it. They're just too mean to accept him. Very harsh. Only other song, I think you could make the kids.

case for while like all the music is good, but like a truly like exciting needle drop in this is when they sing party in the USA on the bus and Anna Kendrick finally joins in. But also like party in the US is another great, great song. So there's that. I also, I love there's always a scene in movies like this in Glee and we watched a couple of movies on Tea Time that had a scene like this where they get to the competition and they watch a group and they're like, we can't beat them. Like we can't do it. There's always that scene. And I love blaming on the boogie with the black college where he just crushes it. It's like 30 seconds long.

He gives it like the little wink and like brushes and like goes back and they're like, we can't beat them. I'm like, no, you can't. Yeah. You know? And I just love that. So great. It seemed unfair that they like eventually got, you know, called out on technicality of him

being in high school. I don't want to tell you what my needle drop moment is. Because Julia's going to be upset. Safe space. It's don't you forget about me in the final medley. It's great. I'm with you. A soaring moment.

When you hear the beat come in, that's a needle drop. You're not expecting it. Not all the music, not all the music, but most of the music has been modern. And then it's, hey, hey, hey, don't you. And they've narratively built to it, too. That's perfect. Like, there's not a lot, you know, there's not a ton of plot in this movie that we're following. And, like, you could have even forgotten about that, that he loves the ends of movies and the Breakfast Club is his favorite.

But you have it because it made enough impact. And then you know, you know it's coming. They're about to stick their arms in the air. And he does it in the final moment. He does the breakfast club arm. Him doing it is the opposite of him at the riff off. It's so lame. No.

It is not lame. It is precious. It's a sign. He's forgiving her in this moment. And he does it so begrudgingly, you watch all these feelings happen over his face. And the way she's just singing out to him, it's like, I'd wager to say kind of hot. And she's not like a very hot character throughout the movie. There's a lot of eye contact.

A lot of eye contact. And she's doing her little leg movements. I'm sorry this isn't a visual medium for the listener. I just want to say counterpoint with proper lighting. at Alice Tully Hall, she would never be able to see him in the audience. So just want to throw that out there. Fair.

Fair enough. Okay. I've changed my mind. This needle drop sucks. Do you. I'm with you. That's a great moment. Thank you, Kate.

Okay. Fair enough. You made a good case. I don't like the song. All right. The Big Cahuna Burger Award, best food or drink. I mean, you know,

there's the burrito that's thrown at Rebel Wilson, which is that a best moment? I'm going to not, it's no, but is it the most notable moment? including food or drink, definitely. And I think it's also the fulcrum on which sort of like the attitude about fat shaming really changes for me where like fat Amy sort of, you know, making it work.

And you're like, yeah, I buy into Rebel Wilson. But then throwing a burrito at this woman just seems like pretty upsetting. I didn't care for it. Yeah. That was what I had to. It's the only option, really. The only other one I thought of is when when Becca goes to ask for Jesse's forgiveness. there's like a bowl of popcorn on the bed and she's like,

Jesse, I know you're in there. I can smell popcorn. And it gives the suggestion that these two people actually know each other in a way that we like otherwise do not totally have. They don't have like a ton of getting to know each other moments together. You never see her in his room, but she knows that he eats popcorn. Yeah, which is, which is cute. It's a nice moment between them.

Next, Denne of Thieves, Benny Hanna Award for the steam stealing location and the great shot Gordo Award for the most cinematic shot. I have to say, though this movie was shot at LSU, I was like really wondering where that was and was surprised. I just found out with LSU, it looks nice. But I feel like with both of these categories, kind of hard to decide from this movie. Wouldn't say they really excelled in cinematography and location scouting. Did anything jump out for you guys? I think the empty pool is cool in the riff off. I think it's just cool to be standing at the bottom and people are sitting on the sides. And like, I had that for both of these where it's just like a memorable place to be. You know, the acoustics and all of that. But like, are the acoustics good? I don't know. They are in the movie. You think that they would be. I like the idea of it. Yeah. I also had, I also had the empty pool. And then I was like, oh, that's actually an extremely like non-pictureesque place. But it is it is kind of what you imagine for like where are you going to have a riff off. And then I also like the big cement bleachers. that they go to after they all get inducted into their...

Like the amphitheater or something? Yeah, like the amphitheater they're hanging out in. And it's kind of a terrible place to film something because they're all like clamoring over these bulky cement bleachers. But it does give you like a real good downward shot of all of these Acapella Nerds. Sure. Okay.

Let's move on. Those are good nominations. A lot of cement involved. But, you know, it speaks to... Not the most cinematic movie. It speaks to what we're working. working with. Next, the Stephen A. Smith

hottest take award. We already heard Cates. I'm ready to share mine. Unless Jody, you'd like to go first. No, Juliet, I'd love to hear yours first. Between the three categories of all male, female, and co-ed, acapella, female is definitely the worst.

Absolutely. It is just the least entertaining, the least melodic, and the least fun. And so that is a very correct initial supposition of this movie. Yeah, they're not kidding when they say there's an acapella glass ceiling. There is a vocal reason for that

encapela glass ceiling. And it's that unless you have fake vocal node surgery, we can't hit the base notes. Exactly. So it's like completely true. I don't even feel bad saying it because it's just a fact. And I'm sorry to all female acapella, I admire you, but it was always what I was least interested in seeing when I was in college. So yeah, we had in my high school, we had the like the men's group, the girls group, the co-ed group, the concert choir group, which is when I was in.

And the co-ed group everyone wanted to be in, the men's group was big. They were like, cool. No one really wanted to be in the girls group. I never was remotely tempted because they're just not. Yeah. It sounds like their version of bass of bass all the time. And that's a great song, the sign,

and they somehow ruined it. So, you know, it's not great. That's my take. It's hard. It is true. I mean, we had these exact versions of these groups in my college, you know? Same. And, yeah.

And the all boys group. was very popular and was getting shows. And we're at freshman orientation and we're like playing at the president's house or whatever. You know, they were like a bookable, a bookable unit. And the bellas were getting kicked out of a fraternity party for not having it together. That seems so sad. Jody, what's your hottest take? I once again, I'm almost afraid to say because there's been some groundwork laid that I guess that's what makes it. a hottest take, which is that the troublemakers should have won the finals. Their performance

is better. They are more charismatic. The dancing is better. I just think that the Bella's finale song is, while it's great in this, like, musical showcase for Becca and all of her many DJing talents, it's too much. Like, the song's changing too much. It doesn't show off the vocals. And that might go to Juliet's point, which is that, like, maybe in an all-women group, some of the vocals can't be there. And so you do have to, like, play around with the arrangements more. But I just love that troublemakers performance so much. I love when they play each other like instruments. I love when Benji comes out.

I love the way Ben Platt sings. I love the way Skylar Aston sings. Like, I just, I love it. And the reveal, the final reveal, six months later, that the winner of the final. gets to choose the next audition song. I thought it then. I thought it now when I was rewatching it. I convinced myself that the troublemakers won.

And when they get to sing the next audition song, I was thinking of bring it on. I was thinking of bring it on, which obviously this has so many parallels to. I was just, I was sad. The troublemakers should have won. Can I give you my complaint with the troublemakers? Please. Of course. Put on a blazer.

Like, wear something other than your. T-shirts and jeans and jackets. Like, you're a whatever, multi-winning college acapella group, and you're still in these hoodies? Like, we can't put in a little bit more effort than this. Are they wearing hoodies in the final? Aren't they wearing velvet blazers?

Yeah, they're wearing velvet blazers. They finally, yeah. I still think they can do better. You're right. The velvet blazers are better. But the whole time, better than a velvet blazer Kate. The whole time I was watching,

I was actually watching on YouTube, like the ICCA competition things from like 2019, 2018, because I was like, for picking nits, I was going to be like, how accurate is this? Like, could they compete? And actually, it's very accurate. But the costumes generally are better, I think. Like, much more, I don't know. They just look a little raggedy in this movie, I think, for a realistic collegiate,

like, this is nationals. These are the best Acapella teams in the country. I'm like, you can do better. I thought they looked great. I thought Skyler Aston looked great. No notes. I'm just. just going to add on top of your take, Jody, a counter take, which is, I don't like Ben Platt's voice.

I know this is really unpopular, but I don't like his singing voice. I don't like Dear Evan Hansen. I respect that he's talented and people love him, but it's just not for me. I have to tell you, I had really soured on him as a result of everything that's happened since this movie. But then watching this movie again, I was like, this was why this was why he blew up. Because he's so charming and talented in this movie. I actually think he's great. When he comes in, sings I got the magic every time I'm like, oh. It's like a nice triumphant moment, but I don't like the actual singing.

So that's why I don't think they should have won. And Kate, to your point, he is wearing such an ill-fitting pair of jeans. I imagine it's on purpose for his character, but he is wearing such terrible jeans that it's like, you can put the velvet blazer on the nerd, but you can't take the nerd out of the old-fitting jeans. But his voice is not, it's not like a universal voice. You know, sometimes it works in, you know, Dear Evan Hansen, and sometimes it has too much vibrato, whatever.

But for me, in this performance, it works when he comes out so soft. And then they amp it up. I think the pacing of that performance is really good. Also, like, no one's winning vocal awards in this movie. Like, everyone's good. I don't know. I think, Skylar Asson's really good. my opinion. I think he's like a really good singer. I mean, he's probably a singer. He's not

amazing. He's not like Jeremy Jordan. Sure. We can't hold everybody up to Jeremy Jordan, Kate. I just, when I was thinking about recasting and I did take this back because I decided Skylar Ashton was great, but I was considering Jeremy Jordan. And I just like, like, vocally, I'm like, it feels wrong to to go after Ben Platt when he has a very good voice and everyone else in this movie has a good voice. Sure. I will say, I think my favorite performer in the in the Troublemakers finale, if we're talking troublemakers is Utcars Amadkar, who's also in, he's like, he does the rapping during magic. He, he'll, I'm sure we'll mention him again when we get to that guy, but he's, he's really good in

the troublemakers. Yeah. Thank you for pointing him out, Juliet, and agreeing with me that the troublemakers are the best performance, which is what I'm taking from this. He is so fantastic. And I think he lends a credibility to the idea that these guys are cool. because he, they give him lines that let you know that he, too, is a nerd. But, like, he has a real innate coolness to him.

And his ability to sort of fluctuate between, like, rapping and singing and beatboxing is really incredible. He's a real key player in the troublemakers. Totally. And he is like that in real life. He's part of Freestyle Love Supreme, which is Lin-Mit-Well, Miranda, it's, like, improv hip-hop group. And he's also in Never Have It Ever. he's in ghosts. He's like really like having a moment,

but he's been building towards us for a long time. Yeah. And he's just extremely good looking. I like I started a crush on him in this movie that has lasted for a decade, a very long lasting result and legacy of this movie for me personally. I love it.

Let's take another break. I wrote a little song to remind you, Choice Hotels gets you more of the experiences you value. Mm, the Cambria hotels got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball. Cocktails up here feel just right. Is Cambria homemade? Bring a date, your team, or even your mom.

Book direct at choiceotails.com. See you on the roof. All right. After that, it's time for the Anchorman Flute P-Break Award. Time to go to the bathroom. There, I have two nominees for this. One is the fight scene after regionals when up to her dad picking her up, just like,

we don't need this. I have that written down exactly. Donald Faison, did you need a payday? Like, what's going on here, man? Just like a blatant cameo attempt? I don't, there's no reason for it. This gets at something. In general, there's a lot of plot holes.

I think we'll get to this later on. But I'm just like, what was this a part of that got cut out? Like, it's just really weird. And like, did you have to leave Donald Faison in? Like, why is this in the movie? Yeah, didn't need it. Which leads me to another plot. p-break, I would say, is like any scene in the radio station where Becca is with Luke,

played by Freddie Stroma. I have him for that guy as well. It's just, it seems like there was some deeper story there. Like, at one point, Jesse alludes to some sort of chess match going on between them that we never really see. And Freddie Stroma is so hot. And at that time, quite a popular actor that it just made sense. no sense that he's like this random college radio.

Right. You know, those P-Bricks would have to be pretty quick, but basically anytime they're talking to each other, you can at least like check your phone, go on Instagram. Yeah, like, there must have been a love triangle there that we didn't get to see, right? Or something like that. Yeah, they definitely must have set him up as like a rival, you know, romantic interest. Love rival. All right.

Next. What's age the worst? Quite a few. Who wants to kick this off? I mean... I had like, I had this kind of for a bathroom break as well, but I'll start it off with any time there's a puke scene. Yeah. And there are way too many.

I especially had the puke fight scene at the end. I can't with that. I can't with any of it. We don't need it. There was a trend a couple years ago of like there were like four movies that came out in the same year where it was like women were like nervous puking. Like hustlers had it and like a bunch of these other movies. It was like the strange trend. People wrote about it online.

And like this. was like an early installment in that. And I hate it every time. I don't ever want to see it. I will say that the first time it happens, you don't see it as much. And it's kind of, it's shocking. Yeah. It's a quick cut at the very beginning. You see, you just see the back of her head. You don't, you barely, I mean, you do see it and it is gross. Like, it's definitely a gross out scene. But the shock of it, I think, did have some sort of positive effect on me, which is like, oh my gosh, you know, it was going so perfectly. They're singing these old school songs.

Like they're doing their prim and proper blazers and skirts performance. And then for her to do something so improper is a moment. The second scene where she throws up outrageously, you're hearing it, you're seeing it, and then Lily is doing snow angels in it. I'm so sorry to bring it up, but we have to put words to it is so, so terrible. It's terrible. The opposite of rewatchable. I skip it every time. Exactly.

It's disgusting and it's a really, really weird, like, final note on Lily being, like, cast, the Lilly character being, like, silent and weird because, like, it's, like, a weird Asian stereotype of who this character is. And it's, like, it's, like, gross moment, like, gross out humor, but also just, like, a really ugly moment of how they've treated this character. And it's, like, it's pretty deeply upsetting. This movie's relationship to other groups, like anything that is not whiteness is just really,

is really bad. It's offensive. And that's like probably one of the worst moments for it in the whole movie. But in some ways, the character of Kimmy Jen, her roommate, like at least she is given a little bit more depth weirdly than Lily, where she joins a club. She has friends.

She's like doing her own thing. I mean, the way that she's like, that Becca stereotypes her reflects poorly on the movie and Becca more than her. But like the character of Lily is just pretty unforgivable and absolutely the thing that's aged the worst for me in this movie. Agreed. I also saw like it was, you know, I was reading about songs that these actors auditioned with for this movie.

And it was talking about, uh, the actress for Lily sang like a Korean folk song. Yeah. I was like, what? Like she's saying. She, that's great. Like, and then she got this role and they were like, actually you're never going to talk. and your whole thing is going to be how you don't talk and we never hear you. It's like, what?

Why? It's really terrible. I do enjoy getting to see that character beatbox in the end. Like, I'm glad that finally comes around. But everything before it is terrible. And I'll also say that, like, the othering of Cynthia Rose as of presumed and then confirmed lesbian or queer character is outrageous. Like, and it's happening constantly.

Like it's in every scene and it's always played as this very quiet joke. Like it's, it's rare, there are rarely like words put to it except when Fat Amy says, Lesbianist and then whatever. Like, it's just so. And it talks about her gambling problem. Right. Yeah. And then you think she's going to say that she, but, and I do like that brief moment where

she talks about her, her, her gambling problem. And then she just very naturally says it happened when she broke up with her girl. friend. The movie does that a lot where the characters are fine with themselves. They're confident. They're not hiding anything. The movie is othering them and making fun of them and punching down at them in a way where they like kind of think they can get away with it. It's also just such a weird thing to do. It's actually kind of like hard to pull off where the characters themselves have comfort in who they are, but the movie doesn't. Which I think is, is because, because the Anna Kendrick character is ultimately pretty mean.

She's at the center of it. And also the way they use Rebel Wilson's character. But I agree with you the moment where Esther Dina Cynthia Rose says, yeah, it's when I broke up with my girlfriend. That's like another kind of like triumphant moment in the movie where it's just sort of like, fuck this homophobia. Like this is a character who's, you know, comfortable with herself. And I really liked that.

But it's just like it takes so long to get there. And it also feels unearned because the movie is like so cruel. Cruel to like queer characters. It's pretty, it's pretty, it's jarring on a rewatch, I would say. Yeah, I agree. My final, what's aged the worst, which is just a much lighter and quick moment, is that Aubrey says she's Dixie Chick serious, which is not a band anymore. I was like, oh yeah, they used to be, the chicks used to be called the Dixie Chicks.

And Dixie Chick Serious is just like an absurd little line that Aubrey would say. Yes. Seriously. I had a couple more. One was Becca's insistence that she had to go to L.A. to pursue a music career and just being like, Dad, I got to get to L.A. Like, what am I doing in college? So absurd. Ridiculous. Doesn't make any sense. You know, where's a great place to learn about music production? College. College, yeah. Seriously. Maybe go to a music school. And then Bumper, Adam Devine, who we somehow have not spoken about. Wow, we really haven't. love Adam Devine. He's very funny in this movie. He's also mean, but in a way where he's like, well, he's just in the movie a lot less. So I think he is less of an opportunity to be like truly cruel. But anyway, he leaves the group to say that, because he says John Mayer asked him to sing back up on his CD.

And CD, L.O.L. And B, John Mayer is like basically professional guitar player at this point. Like I feel like singer is second. So it's just kind of funny. It's like a real throwback to who John mayor was 10 years ago. You know what's crazy is I had rewritten that in my head before rewatching it yesterday as that he was going to do backup vocals for Adam Levine just because their names sound alike. Because Adam Devine, Adam Devine and Adam Levine. And I was like, oh, it's John Mayer. I just completely made that up. Really quick, I have two brief wins. One thing that's aged the worst is the riff off. James Corden co-opted it and does them on his show with celebrities. Obviously, pre-written, not actually happening that way. But that's tough.

And then age the worst is the relationship between Skyler Aston and Anna Camp, who are married from 2016 to 2019. Ouch, Kate. She had a real toner, but it didn't age well. I know. That is sad. It is sad. Anna Camp was also a bridesmaid in Britney Snow's wedding. And I know this because I've investigated every aspect of Britney Snow's marriage. So. Well, and I guess, rewining a bit, that's age to the best, is that, like, a lot of these women are still really close with each other. Like, they're bridesmaids in each other's weddings, best friends. Like, they're real true friends, which is fun.

And if you want an Instagram deep dive, that's a good one. Just checking out who's still hanging out with who. Um, I will say the only person who doesn't seem to be part of that or also, like, particularly, like, have a fondness for these movies is Anna Kendrick. I'm not saying she doesn't, but she doesn't really talk about it. And I watched a 30-minute video of her on Vanity Fair's YouTube channel, like doing her career timeline. And she doesn't have a lot of, like, warmth towards pitch perfect,

which I found surprising. But maybe that's just her. Hmm. I came into this movie watching it again with a very confused idea of Anna Kendrick that I can't quite parse because I like her a lot as a performer. I think it comes maybe simply from Dumois that there are like rumors that she is not a fun person to work with.

But I do think she has been friends with some of these people, maybe not like as close, but it seems like, I mean, I'll say that when Britney Snow announced her separation, I did see Anna Kendrick's Instagram comment saying, I love you so much. So that suggests a friendship to me.

Yeah. That's important data. get for female friendship. But yeah. So, like, I had a kind of emotional journey wondering what I'm supposed to think about Anna Kendrick now. And I'm still on it. Important data.

Was there a better title for this movie? This movie is based on a book very loosely called Pitch Perfect. So, and I actually think it is a very good title. It is. I was, I think Pitch Perfect's great. I thought they could have done like pitch slapped or something. I also wrote that. I don't think it's like, I wonder what it would have done to the movie.

Like, I do think that changing it from pitch perfect to pitch slap some makes kind of a major difference. I'm just not totally sure what it is. And then I also saw that Adam Devine thought it was a baseball movie when he went to audition for it because it was called pitch perfect. And so he hadn't prepared a song. So, you know, it's not an entirely clear title, but it doesn't seem to help it back. Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. All right, next.

Casting what ifs. There's only one major one here, but the Elizabeth Banks part, Gail, was written for Kristen Wig, which would have been very funny. A lot of bridesmaid DNA in this movie if she had been in it as well. I would have loved that.

They also considered Amy Poehler, who was very good friends with K. Cannon, the writer, ultimately went to Elizabeth Banks. Of those three, who would you have wanted the most? Kristen Wig would have been pretty funny, but I think Elizabeth Banks is great.

She's really good John Michael Higgins, too. Yeah. Yeah, I love Elizabeth Banks in it. I did see that Brey Larson auditioned for a role in this movie. Yes. It's got to be Becca, right? Definitely. There's no other role for her.

Yeah. Would she have been better? Could she have done it? You don't think she could have played Aubrey? Maybe. I guess. I feel like Brie Larson at that point coming off of like, what's the movie where she's saying with the video games?

Scott Pilgrim. Scott Pelgrim. She like thought she was cool. you know so like that to me. And Kendrick was in that too right? Yes. Oh yeah. So maybe it was like same like whoever was doing the casting had seen that or whatever. So yeah. I don't know. I feel like she she's not a great fit. But she kind of has like similar try hard energy. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Definitely. I think she could do the Becker role. And she was like a she was like a teenage attempted pop star. So she can sing. Sure. Well, yeah, I don't know. speed around people. Ruffalo Hannah Rubeneck Partridge overacting award. They knew and they let it happen.

Don't you call me, lady. I come in here. I give these things to you. Give it all you got. Give it all you got. I treated you like a son. You fucking stand me in the heart. Fuck you.

Jody, who are you giving it to? It's hard with this movie because they're all supposed to be so over the top. For me, it's like, if anyone, I think you have to go Rebel Wilson or Adam Devine, but that's just who they are. You know, like, that's what they're there to do. They're there to be over the top.

I literally wrote down, Rebel Wilson or Adam Devine. It's kind of their thing, though, so IDK. That is nearly word for word, what I wrote. It's Ben Platt. You're ridiculous. The magic stuff in the dorm room when he was like with the dove. I can take it down. No, no way.

I mean, it took a second for my eyes to adjust, but I can roll with this. Look, just so you know, I'm not a total nerd. I also happen to be super into close-up magic. Dude, that's awesome. How long was that little guy in there? Several days. It's so funny.

It's not funny. I think he's so funny and charming. I do too. Oh, my gosh. You guys are crazy. You have brought yourself. You have brought yourself to this movie, and you can't break out of what you know about Ben Platt now.

I like him more as a human. I mean, I just think he's not good in this movie, but whatever. I did keep picturing him in the halls of a high school being like, could he have pulled off the Evan Hanson movie 10 years ago? And I'm like, he doesn't really look like he's in high school there either. Kate, that's such a great premise. I didn't think to do that because to me in this movie, he looks so different. He's acting so different. It's barely even placed that it was the same person.

He's like the only 18-year-old in the movie. So he's the only one, like, remotely aged. appropriate to their role. I mean, he looks so different to how he looks now. And he's acting so differently than I've seen him act in any other role that it was like, it was almost like I wasn't even thinking of him as Ben Platt. But Juliet was. Juliet can't not. I just don't think he was good with like the, like, I thought he was good as like the stage manager. But when he's doing all the magic stuff and like he's like room roomie, Benji, I think it's funny. I wasn't into it. With Skyler Ashton's like, how long has that little guy been

in there and he's like quite a while. Quite a while. Very seriously. It's very funny to me. The Butch's girlfriend award for the weak link of the film, Kate? I said Anna can't, but my heart isn't in it. It's not in it.

I think that role could have been played by a lot of different people. But she has a fine job. I totally agree with you. I mean, I think, yeah. Jody, what do you think? I mean, maybe this is going a little low down the cast list. And I'm not really saying this from a performance point of view, but the character of Stacey's,

just really doesn't hit for me, played by Alexis Knapp. Like, it's just, it's from another movie. It's not funny enough to be in this movie. It's not even progressive is the wrong word, but like, it's not even edgy enough. Like, slut shaming in 2012, what are we doing? Also, you're in college. Isn't, like, a lot of people are just like, I'm here to have a lot of sex. Like, I don't know.

It's a way to approach college. Go for it. If you're comfortable with that. And her confession is like, you guys probably don't know this, but I have a lot of sex. That's not a sentence a human would say. It's just the writers are better than this. I don't love it. That's a good call.

Yeah, that is a good call. I agree with that. The other one I was to say it was her dad. There's like no connection whatsoever between Anna Kendrick and her supposed professor father. We just like don't know anything about him. So everything having to do with that character, I'm just like, it's not really necessary except to get her into the group. But I think they could have come up with some other plot contrivances for that.

So that's just one other one. All right. Next. The best that guy award. There's a lot of nominees in this one. Like you could have said Donald Faison, who is obviously Murray from Clueless and also on Scrubs. I've never watched Scrubs, so I don't know its character's name. There's quite a few.

Jody, who is it for you? I said Christopher Mintzplass. Like, coming out of McLevind. coming out. And I do always have to Google his name, unfortunately. It's three names as opposed to one name, McLevin, which is hard. And his sidekick, Jacob Wysaki, I've also seen in other things, and I think was like especially in a few things at that time in 2012. I just enjoyed seeing them pop up. I did think, like, is this kind of a small role for Christopher Mense Plus? But he seemed to be having a great time. So what is acting if not that? I had to go to IMDB. And I was like, that's my

love it, right? I was like, I had to double check because I was so surprised that he was in this role, but he hasn't really had a great career since Superbad. So if you take it all in, it's actually less surprising. Yeah, yeah. It's also like, imagine his payday for such a small

moment, but also I think we can assume a lot of this movie got cut out to get it down to like under two hours. And that's why there's so many things that are confusing. Because there's just a lot of plots, plot lines that don't really make sense. And I think him being in the movie at all is definitely one of them.

So yeah. Yeah. And we talked about that with Freddie Stroma, who's my that guy pick because he's in Bridgerton, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones,

Unreal, one of the Cinderella story movies. Like, he just isn't everything. Yeah. It's wild. For me, it's a car. I mean, I was just, I'm always like,

oh, him. And yes, he's really in a lot of things. Happy to see him having a real revival right now. Or maybe he's just hitting his dread. All right. Next, the Dion Waders Award for a character with a small role

who stole the show show. I think it's Adam Devine. Wow. I think we need to get a little clarity in such an ensemble cast about like who's off the, off the docket. Who, like, who is not eligible for this? I would say Becca, Jesse, Aubrey, Rebel Wilson, and Britney Snow. I think those, all those people are ineligible. Those I would say are the main characters. Okay. I have two. One of them is really going to piss off Juliet. Same. You guys,

it is not Ben Platt. My first one is Elizabeth Banks, who I think is great and does steal the show. And then I also, I literally have Ben Platt, TBH. I'd listen, I think he's great.

I'm really sorry. He's very charming. I think he is like the definition of stealing a scene when he's in it. Like, when he's in the scenes with Jesse, he's very funny. When he has,

his finally has his big moment. He, you know, totally changes the vibe of that final performance. Even in the since you've been gone audition, he sounds great. He's in the audience with this big foam pointer finger for the troublemakers. Come on. You guys are ridiculous. He's not good. I'm sorry.

I think Adam Devine is like very fun. And he's really not in the movie very much. He goes to be in John Mayer's backing up band. And he's right. leaves halfway through. I completely agree with Adam Devine. I thought maybe he was too big of a role to include, but he is very funny. And he and Rebel Wilson together are bringing just a wild and unexpected energy that's

really fun. And I will say is the only thing that I continue to like throughout the sequels, basically. Yes. Yes. I had the same thought. I love that they like paired them up. Well, they did a lot of improv together. So I guess they had like a real.

connection. Yeah. Yeah. Word on the internet street is that this, that relationship was not, was not really written into the script until those two actors had an extremely unhinged energy together. And they were like, let's make that a thing. I love unhinged energy. That's great.

2022 recasting couch. You know, for me, I was thinking about some of the popular Disney franchises and some other people that I've heard of from Des Moire. And I feel like Dove Cameron could be a really good Becca. And she is in the descendants, but she also sings and is like really famous. She's like having a moment. Yeah. Yeah.

So this is if we're making this movie today, right? Yeah. I think we got to get a pop star in there. I think Zendaya would make an amazing Becca. She's way too famous to be Becca, but okay. For sure. But I think she would do a great job. It's our dream.

This was a blockbuster comedy. It could happen. I really like Renee Rapp from Sex Lives of College Girls. She was in a bigly blonde. I think she would be great as like either Anna Camp's character or Becca or whoever. Chloe, she could do Britney Snow's role. I think would be great. And I feel like I really like Haley Steinfeld.

And I think they did her dirty with the sequels. Her character is terrible. So I think we should just run it back and give her. a different role. I like that. I like that. Also, I'm a big favor of, like, recasting, obviously this category, but like, ignoring what's already been done and just sort of like ignoring reality.

I think she's great. I also had Haley Down. Like, she's just, she's so great. I love hearing her sing. She's so talented. She's maybe also too famous, but I just think she'd do it. She kind of seems like an earnest theater kid, too. And you could put her in any role.

You could give her a new role. I like the idea. Yeah, kind of going with the dove Cameron Disney energy, Jordan Fisher is so charming. He has maybe now aged out of this point of his career where he can play, but he still looks so young and cute. Yeah, he's a good one. I'd love to see him as Jesse.

Yeah. What about Olivia Rodrigo? It depends. Are we using Zendaya rules? I mean, she's very famous. It's a great point. I just, those kids in general seem like they need more jobs. Like a lot of them, like, haven't necessarily broken out of the Disney world yet.

Yeah, we need more college romps for them to play college students in instead of high school students. It's true, but we need like a lesser person from that show. So it's similar to Anna Kendrick coming out of the Twilight movies, essentially. Right. Right. And, I mean, Britney Snow, I feel like. this was kind of her first, like, break into, you know, she was a child actor and, like, her, kind of her first, like, you know, somewhat, not at edgy's the wrong word, but, like, fun,

older person role that then launched her adult career. Right. Let's do some half-ass internet research. We've done quite a bit already. I've just been sprinkling it in, but a couple of follow-ups. Esther Dean, who plays Cynthia Rose, she co-wrote S&M, the Rihanna song that is sung in the movie among many other jams. Honestly, go to her Wikipedia discography. Her impact on popular music is unbelievable and it's awesome. There's a really good John C. Brook 2012 profile about her. Maybe he's 2018 and just the way that she works. She's like probably the most impressive person in the movie. She's like extremely accomplished. It's awesome. It's unreal. Yeah. It's crazy. Like even just how many songs she was writing and producing in this year.

Like in 2012, like 2010 to 2012, she was like defining music. She's also, I'm not going to be able to think of it now, but another reality, I love reality shows about music. She was on a show on NBC. She's one of the coaches. Oh, yeah. It's about songwriters. And so like songwriters audition, which is kind of hard to do.

But it's actually an incredibly charming show. And she's one of the coaches, I would recommend. Check it out. out. Jody mentioned Adam Devine did not have a song prepared for his audition. So I read conflicting reports. He either did the full house theme song or the Family Matters theme song. I'm not sure which one, but it was one of those TGIF shows from when he was a kid. Wow. Maybe on the spot, that was just what came to mind. Yeah, it must have been. Also one of the only songs he like fully knew. Right. The movie that Jesse was supposed to really care about was originally say anything,

not the breakfast club. Much better movie. Yes. I mean, I love Cameron Crowe. And they chose Ace of Bass because they thought that the Ace of Bass and I saw the sign would be lame

to this group of Bard and Bellas, which I find to be absolutely outrageous because the Swedes basically like introduced this entire type of pop music of like the pop synth song. So that's ridiculous, but I had to share it. The way they ultimately use the Ace of Base

is fairly grading. So they did at least make it work. They did ruin the song. Yes. I didn't know it could be done. All right. Let's move on to Apex Mountain. And just to be clear,

this is who was at the peak of their powers when this movie came out. I think it's undeniable that Anna Kendrick was at the peak of what she would be right out, like in the year following this movie. I mean, I think this was the top of the mountain for her.

Like literally Apex Mountain. Is there any, case being made that she had more juice at a different time in her career? I don't think so. No. I don't either. The juice created from this went a little ways and then was

you know, I think slowly evaporated from a couple of bombs. But at this time from Twilight to up in the air to pitch perfect, like there was, she was one of the hottest like

let's get this, well, should have been one of the hottest, let's get this woman in the lead of our movies. I think a lot of people just didn't really know, like, what was the right role for her. And maybe this is because she's meant to be a stage actress. But, you know, I really like the movie Drinking Buddies, which was like part, it was like her foray into the mumblecore movement. But like it just like wasn't the right role. Wasn't her fault.

But she just like didn't like fit in that movie. I will say I love the television show Love Life on HBO Max, which I definitely recommend. She is the star of season one. And that's like a really good. really good role for her, but I just feel like her type of talent wasn't actually like a great fit for the movies that have come out in the last 10 years. And what I felt about Love Life is that season one of Love Life is that it was like a movie from 2012. Like it was not a very modern, a very modern take. And so it fit because it was kind of like a rewind to this time. But I still feel

like she's really talented and I'm pushing for an a kindraissance. I'm not have to work on the wording, but Anna Zons. She also was like very online in like the years 2012, 2016, very active on Instagram and Twitter, which I think was like a good fit as a celebrity, but like maybe just like, again, didn't translate to like the acting roles in a way. But I also don't know if you guys ever followed the Tumblr, Anna Kendrick Lamar, but like that provided a lot of laughs for me in 2014-ish. Big JL crossover for sure. Yeah, exactly.

I have another just proposal for Apex Mountain. Sure. I think you could make a case for Elizabeth Banks. She was between the first and the second Hunger Games movies, which were like the biggest moment for the Hunger Games. She directed the second pitch perfect movie. she was still, I think, at the tail end of 30 Rock

was like, in her like producer, director, I'm multi-talented, I'm not just an actress moment, I think. And then I think when the sequels got bad, that's when she kind of started to go downhill a little bit. I think that's a good case.

I like that. Also, she did a lot of comedies around this time. She was just like, really, that was a good lane for her. Kind of like, wry humor really worked. well. Yeah. Yeah. I also thought of Elizabeth Banks. I mean, I think the only thing is like she does get significantly more famous after this because of this, like it kind of launches her directing and

producing and like maybe still is. I don't know. I think it's been a quiet few years. She had a couple flops. She had a couple flops. She had a couple flots. Yeah. This is when it was all still possible. I think similarly, this was when it was all still possible. like this is kind of a peak for Rebel Wilson. I mean, I think she, this was a breakout role. I guess bridesmaids was her breakout role, which I love her in. And this was like a cementing of her as like a comedy, you know, icon with like such a strange and rare gift that then nothing ever really nailed again. Like she completely nails bridesmaids, completely nails pitch perfect.

And then she has a lot of other stuff. She gets her own TV show. she's in like how to be single and isn't it romantic and cats. But nothing ever really like hits again in that rebel Wilson way. I agree with that. I also think Skyler Aston, this is probably his Apex Mountain. Like he kind of, you think he's going to be going. Like you would buy all the stock just to like do like a musical movie around Skylar Aston.

So I think for him as well, I have a curve up. It might be. Oh, go ahead. The Tufts B.S. The Tufts Acapella Group. They are the basis for the travelmakers. They had just become like quasi famous in the aquapela world because they had been on the sing-off, which Jody mentioned. And the guy who, like the guy who started the Tufts Biazzelbub's, his name, I believe, is John Deakin or John Deeks.

And he was like a consultant for this film. There's a lot of Tufts Acapella DNA in this movie. And I don't know that anyone's really cared about Tufts Acapella as much since. It's true. It was a very big time for the B.L. Zabov. And I do remember that. I believe I was recapping the sing-off as an Entertainment Weekly intern at the time. And so I really had my thumb on the pulse of Acapella.

It honestly might be easier to ask. And we don't have to do this. but like, who is this not the Apex Mountain for? I mean, this is really, I don't mean that in a rude way. It's just like, this is really the peak for a lot of these actors who have gone on to have careers. Like, a lot of them have gone on to have careers. It's just this was such a big movie and a big franchise that it's kind of harder to get, to get bigger than this, I guess. It's true. It's true.

The Tufts guy's name is actually Deke Sharon. But I think you're right, which leads us to What's is anyone's Hall of Fame Plack movie? And I think it's a lot of people's Hall of Fame Plack movie. It's definitely Skyler Aston's. Yeah, Rebel Wilson. Rebel Wilson. Is Rebel Wilson is that or Bridesmaids?

She is such a small role in bridesmaids. Yeah. And also I want to say she's a good singer. Like, her actual perform, like when she does turn the beat around in this movie, like, when they're not making fun of her, she's actually like really good and fun to watch on it. True, she is really good. So I would be proud of this if I was her.

Yeah. Yeah, I think it like shows the full array of what she could do. I don't imagine she would want to put this as her Hall of Fame because it might suggest that like things didn't, you know, continue to escalate. But it does. And like it's not, you know, Anna Kendrick has other things that she, but like Skylar Aston, Anna Camp. I don't know if they'd want it, though, because of their divorce. But yes, I agree that should be. They don't have to share the plaque.

I'm sure, but maybe just, you know, of a certain era. Right. Best racehorse name from the movie? I mean, I want to throw out Sacapella. I just thought that was really funny, and I could see that going for a horse as well. This is probably cheating, but I have two song titles. Okay.

One, no diggity. I've been on no diggity. Absolutely. And then I think blame it on the book. is a great horse race horse name. Lay me on the boogie, pulling into the lead. Y'all are great at naming horses. I got nothing.

I was like, I don't know. The Beelzebub's, like, I can't. I got nothing. On the soccer pellet topic, for me, the action is the juice award for best quote. I think it's got to go to John Michael Higgins saying it doesn't get better for everyone after high school. I really enjoyed that.

I think it's the best standalone piece of nugget that anyone gives. Anything else you guys wanted to mention in this category? Likewise, I have a Gail quote on the other side of that, which is right at the very beginning. She says, nothing makes a woman feel more like a girl than a man who sings like a boy. And doesn't that just describe acapella and our relationship with it in college? So good. Yep.

That's it. That's the full spectrum of the experience. All right. I also like, I can see your toner through those jeans. That's just my dick. That's pretty good. jokes very good all right let's pick some nets everything with Freddie stroma on the radio station just doesn't make any sense and I don't even know

the question to ask because it's obvious that something was lost and something was cut out but they still like needed to have them working together but if you take everything having to do with that out of the movie like does anything change no no I mean it's somewhat it's it's somewhat important for for for Jesse and Becca to work in that station together. They have to bond, yeah. But the head of it could be anybody. Right.

And I would say also, like, there's other ways for them to interact. I mean, just come up with something else. It clearly, like, they cut something out and they couldn't, like, reshoot it. So they had to, like, make it work. But it's just so, so bad. You don't need it. That's my biggest knit. Kate, what do you got?

I have a couple. One, they spell Becca with one seat. I know. B-E-C-A. Are you kidding me? I know. Are you too good for that second C? No one's ever done that.

You know her name is B-E-C-C-A and she changed it when she went to college. You know it. It's actually only one C. I think the rules for the riff-off aren't explained clearly enough. When I first watched this, I was really confused about why she got disqualified. They say it, but like they skim over it. You're not paying attention. It's hard to understand.

I think that's a knit. And I actually I had my thing about the costumes earlier. I'm not convinced that they would be competitive in an actual ICCA competition. I think they look a little raggedy. I don't know that they would be quite the well-oiled machines that these teams seem to be at nationals.

There is a thing about some acapella groups where they wear like really weird jackets. Yeah. But I don't know that they do it at nationals. Or they pick like two colors and you all have to wear like black and purple. or black and whatever. You're gonna have to wear a black dress shirt if you are on an men's Okafella team, unfortunately.

Make sure you own one. Juliet, maybe this will please you. Most of my nits to pick are around the character of Benji. Okay. Because all of a sudden, he is working as... He's like the stage manager at an Acapella event, which is very far from their school. And we've never seen any suggestion that he works with Acapella Management.

And then he goes, when Becca goes running out of the competition because she's gotten upset, he goes chasing after her and yelling Becca. And they never interact in the movie. Like there's no suggestion that they're friends. We've never even seen her in his room. And he's the one to go running after her. And it's all to serve the purpose of him. discovering that that kid was in high school.

But why does Benji need to discover that? Right. Also, that mom would not be using that tote bag. She was part of a cover-up to make her show. If you're running an Acapella scam, you're doing it carefully. Come on. Also, why was he leaving early? Yeah, I don't.

Because he'd done his work. He was like, crushed it. I'm out of here. Good time. Got to go. Right, right. Strict curfew to get to class the next morning. And then my other one is there was no need for,

for Becca's DJing habit hobby profession to be that embarrassing. Like, she could have had an interest in music production without being like, you know David Geta?

I don't know. Maybe say girl talk. Like, choose any, like, choose a lesser known person and the way that she's, like, always doing it on the quad. She is producing a song with all of her equipment

out on the street of Boston? I don't know where she's supposed to come from before the cab picks her up to go to college and then she's got to like zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip up all her gear to get in the cab. Girl, give it a rest. You don't have to be like this.

She is very embarrassing. It's a great, I don't, yeah. It's just like a lot to take it. She's just a terrible character. It's pretty bad. It's kind of crazy. The movie's so popular because she sucks so much. Really sucks.

For the next iteration, sequel, prequel, prestige TV, all black cast or untouchable. We know what the sequel looks like. I don't think this is untouchable. We've noted a lot of ways to improve. So prequel, prestige TV or all black cast, there is? Yeah. Bumper.

Pitch perfect. Bumper takes, bumper in Berlin. It's coming to Peacock, starring Adam Devine, with Sarah Highland, Jamila Jamil, and Flula Borg. Could you imagine that that was going to be the spin-off? I had no idea until I was doing research for this podcast. Horifying, actually. I guess I could imagine it being funny.

It's just so random. I'm not a Flula fan, personally. He's, like, just too much for me. That sounds horrible. I do think all black cast would be a good opportunity to reset and make this a much less offensive. updated version. So, plus we all love

the blame on the boogie. That's exactly what I have. I'm like, follow that high school. They're rebuilding after their scandal. Pull on that string. Yeah, absolutely. That's what we want more of. Would this movie be better

with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Catherine Hahn, Steve Bushemi, Sam Jackson, J.T. Walsh, or Philip Baker Hall. Obviously, Catherine Hahn would be a great addition. She could play Gail. She could have been like a Bella alum. Oh, yeah. in to like give him some coaching.

Could have made her the mom instead of a boring dad. Like, yeah. We could have worked her in several ways. Great recast, Kate. Yeah, she just, she slips right in. She fits right into this universe. She often does. She's just honestly a treasure.

Just one Oscar, who gets it? I mean, I think it's very clear that this movie is made by the music. So I'd like to shout out the music supervisors, Julianne Jordan and Julia Michaels. They're great. a really good job. I mean, they picked all the music. They licensed all of it. I mean, much like Moulin Rouge, I just think that like this, the music defines it. So I'd like to shout them out. Yeah. I wasn't sure what was eligible, like, for actual Oscar. Because like,

it's not really original songs. No. But I would love to see Esther Dean someday get a best original song, Oscar, for something. Agreed. So that's who I had down Kate. I just think that's, I think that's, I think I think she just deserves an Oscar for something. Just for life, yeah. Just give her awards. Just, you know, we need... Chloe's the most talented person in the whole thing, so. It's wild.

It's wild. Probably unanswerable questions. Do they ever go to class? Guess not. No. Great question. My question is, why was Chloe in those freshman dorm room showers? Do we know it's an all freshman dorm room showers?

Well, generally you're not, you move out of the dorm after sophomore year, right? Was it just to hook up with that guy? Or even if you're in dorms all the years, you meet, once you're an upperclassman, you live in a different dorm. Like, her just appearing in that steamy shower room makes no sense. Also, no one else taking a shower, just like only two people in the bathroom. That would never happen in a dorm of that size. I guess maybe the suggestion if it's answerable is that that guy that she's in the shower

with is a fresh. in which case, ugh. Yeah. Okay, and then my real question about this movie is, and I'm sorry to bring it up again, but is how do they keep practicing in that vomit-filled room? I know. It's disgusting.

After she throws up everywhere, they all become friends again, and then they're like, all right, ladies, let's saddle up and really get down to bonding. And Lily is covered in vomit. And it's smelly and disgusting. Horrible. Horrible. My other question is, how did Becca get

her audio equipment set up so quickly? It's like the only thing she did when she got to college. And she had so much of it. Did she really need all that as a mash-up artist? Like, she need all those decks?

Well, when you're used to bringing out your desktop on the sidewalk before your cab comes, I guess you've gotten pretty quick at arranging your equipment. On the topic of the vomit rehearsal, why does she drag the chair across the room? Is that a bit or a bit? a joke that I don't get.

Because they made her take her, the other girl they kicked out, she was like, take your chair. And she made her drag it behind her. And it was supposed to be like, you know, humbling. I didn't remember that. Okay. Thanks. Kate, any other unanswerable questions?

This isn't really in the right vein. But is, and this was kind of a Craig, um, swipe, but he's not here anymore. Um, is what's cringier in terms of high school or, excuse me, college extracurriculars, Acapella or Improv? I think improv personally. I think so too. Like if someone's like, if like your friend or your roommate in college is either an an acapella group or an improv group, like you don't want to go see the improv performance, right?

You'd rather go to the acapella. Oh my God. I'm so much more awkward. I know I'm like playing to the wrong crowd here because obviously we're all pro Acapella. But I'm also, it's like, it's a great question to say if your roommate is in which one, which one are you more likely to go to? because the answer is certainly acapella.

But improv has kind of like more practicable skills. Like I think it can serve you well. And it often leads, not often, but many comedians have come from the world of improv. Whereas like if you're doing acapella, you're doing it for the love of the game. And that is embarrassing. That's true. Here's my counter to that. I feel like aquapela people just like go on.

on to live regular lives and they don't often like bring it up that they were in a cappella whereas people who did improv mention it constantly if they don't become like a famous comedian. I can't believe Craig isn't here. Craig did improv which was my uh what I was where I was going with that. Wow. Wow. But I think it's also like you can be a mediocre, you can be on a mediocre acopella group and that's fine. But like you either have to be really good at improv or you're bad at improv. You know? The ceiling is higher. improv. It's tough. All right. Best double feature choice for this movie.

What else are you watching? Kate? I have the Glee pilot. Hmm, good one. Okay. I also think it's funny that one of the riff-off categories on the wheel is songs ruined by Glee. So funny. So it just plays right in. Jody? I'm saying not pitch perfect, too. I'll tell you that much.

Definitely not, yeah. It auto played after I watched this and I was like, wow, wow, wow, this is a stuff. I've seen it before, but was like such a step down. It's bad. Just vibe-wise, comedy-wise. I'd say, like, another college movie, like, neighbors is, like, a fun one to watch with this. That's another college movie I love. McLaugh and Double Feature.

Exactly. Or just the Breakfast Club is an easy tonal shift from hearing Juliet's favorite song in the movie. I'm going to bring it on, which we mentioned earlier. That's great. Competition. actually like a, you know, similar energy and just, I feel like that would be too great like Saturday night. It's raining.

I'm going to watch these back to back. Just good music can build. Your school has no gymnastics team. This is the last resort energy. Totally. Defined by that line. Totally. That's a great call.

This is a last resort. When she joins the team, she wears the outfit and she puts her hair in the ponytail. And she does what you're supposed to do when you're on a team. And she practices at home. I will say also bring it on has a lot of mega mixes, which is not the same as a mashup. Same energy.

Yeah, exactly. Andy and Red Award for what happens the next day. I mean, we know about what they say happens in the sequels. However, what happens really the exact next day? I just have the sequels,

unfortunately, written down. I think that they have another selection party. and instead of the bellas and the troublemakers trying to avoid each other, it just becomes like a massive orgy. That feels right. On the stone steps or do they take it somewhere else? Hopefully into the woods.

Just go to the, yeah. The unfortunate thing about Acapella is that like unlike marching band, it has no sexual energy to it. Like it has a very chast aura. You're not like, oh, these guys are fucking. on the bus. Great point. Great point. Any other alternate realities for these people, Jody? I just

and now I'm like, oh no, I'm the one who created this spin-off. I think I would just want to check in with what Bumper was doing with John Mayer. Like, I just want to know how that backup singing for his CD journey is going. What piece of memorabilia would you want from this movie? I would wear Becca's spiky earrings. You know, he's like,

That's spiky ear. I have a lot of spiky earrings. I don't know. Okay. You're so alternative, Kate. I'm very alternative. I'm not like other girls. I am like other girls.

I'm extremely basic. So I said I would want a Bella's yellow scarf. Just tied around my wrist. You know, like as a headband or something like that. Sure. I have a really big head. So I have doubts that that would work. But as they show us in the final performance, you can use it in a lot of different ways.

Many ways. Many ways to wear it. I'd want some of Becca's headphones because she uses the same ones that we use for our pods or some of us do. And so they, you know, they'd be functional for me right away. It's true. Yeah, that's cost effective. I got like a dollar scarf. You're like, I will take the $500 headphones.

Thank you very much. Smart. The Coach Pinstock Award for the best life lesson. Seek friends. Actually have friends. Enjoy the people who are around you. Mine is that music production is very much a career. Like, the way that they talk about music production at the beginning of this movie is like she's trying to be, I don't know, like a professional ballerina or the president.

It's like, you can go to school for music production and you can use it in a lot of different ways. Like, in sound production, a whole other area. I think that a... It's true. There's a lot to music. And as we see Becca's career progress, I think that she learns and proves that this is an attainable career. and her dad should pay for her to go to L.A. Kate, any lessons you need to impart.

Yes. Aubrey said, I realized I had a knack for barking orders and bending people's wills, so I made a career out of it. Just play to your strengths, you know? Love it. Yeah, that's great. All right. Finally, who won the movie?

I would like to suggest, and I firmly believe, that Rebel Wilson wins this movie. She's the most entertaining. She's the most fun. she can sing and I enjoy every second she's on on screen. That's who I have too. I agree. I agree. Wow.

We did. And I'm shocked. I'm honestly shocked that I felt that way, rewatching this because I really had soured on her over time. Yeah, her persona has become like kind of grading. Yeah. And then I watched this again and was like, she's great. She's really fun in it.

She's also just very, she doesn't like funny and like skilled. So she crushed it. I can't believe. we're ending on a note of unison. Wow. Amazing. Unity and unison. You know what Skyler Aston says the ending's always the best.

Aw. On that note, thank you so much for listening to The Rewatchable. Thank you to Craig of Quarlemack for producing this episode. To have more of me or Jody or Kate, subscribe to Ringer Dash. You can find all of us there. Jody and I are also on the Ringer Reality TV podcast, as is Kate right now,

covering the Great British Bake Off and tune in. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great week.