by Erin Free
Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Rebel Wilson, Mel C, Shaznay Lewis, Ashley Roberts, Sheridan Smith, Nicole Scherzinger, Randall Park, Jennifer Coolidge
Intro:
...an amusingly easy watch...
Aussie comic actress Rebel Wilson has been doing it tough lately. Though her enjoyable directorial debut The Deb was a sweet (but hilariously foul-mouthed) charmer, its release was pretty much scuttled by the ugly she-said/she-said scandal and behind-the-scenes controversy that swirled around the film. Wilson’s second directorial effort Girl Group trades in the same songs-sass-and-saltiness tropes as her first flick to equally entertaining effect, but it will remain to be seen whether the actress/filmmaker’s rep has experienced such a battering as to hinder the film’s chances of finding an audience.
Copping a profound influence from the popular Pitch Perfect films that really established Rebel Wilson internationally, the star takes centre stage in Girl Group as Tassie Young, a one-time member of the popular all-girl pop group Gurlfriends, who now seems to be taking all her cues from Amy Schumer in Trainwreck. After getting done on a DUI, Tassie (who, yes, at one stage released a solo album called “Map Of Tassie”) is slapped with a community service order and finds herself coaching an aspiring teen girl group in a battle-of-the-pop-groups competition with a lucrative recording contract as the prize.
While Girl Group is certainly, ahem, far from pitch perfect (it feels a little outdated in terms of today’s pop climate; not all of the jokes land; it lacks a real sense of place and setting; and the extreme levels of Wilson’s lewdness and vulgarity often derail the film’s more right-minded concerns), there’s quite a lot to like about the film. The musical numbers are fun and snappy, there are plenty of jokes that do land; it has a nice girl-power message; and the performances are strong.
The young actresses are all engaging, and the appearances of pop legends like Mel C, Shaznay Lewis and Ashley Roberts are more than welcome. Wilson is on typically raucous, messy form, but she has her scenes cagily stolen by noted British comic firecracker Sheridan Smith and surprise package Pussycat Dolls bump-and-grinder Nicole Scherzinger, who should seriously pursue a career in comedy. Randall Park, meanwhile, excels in now patented nice-guy mode, and Jennifer Coolidge is Jennifer Coolidge, which is always great.
Newly minted filmmaker Rebel Wilson doesn’t quite suffer from the sophomore slump here, but she might need to sharpen up her act a little when it comes to film number three. Girl Group is an amusingly easy watch, but it doesn’t quite hit the notes that it really needs to.
