

It's a two-hour lesson in how to act like a frenemy to your alleged friends. A character flashes two middle fingers to Bumper.Can we please talk about the snottiness of "Pitch Perfect 2"? It's seriously snotty. (He doesn’t take it soon enough and collapses.) We hear the s-word three times and some other stray profanities, including “h-” and five misuses of God’s name. (Bumper fishes out a cigarette butt in a glass of alcohol.) We hear a song lyric referencing champagne, and Bumper’s given a caffeine tablet to ward off jet lag. “A pervert for talent,” Peiter tells him. When Peiter initially calls and tells him about his online impact, Bumper worries that the guy might know too much about him. A woman in a revealing outfit performs on stage with shirtless, lederhosen-wearing men who dance and pat their rears suggestively. We hear that Bumper is famous in Germany-but mainly because of a viral video where he slipped on some ice and his privates slipped into view. Other male and female revelers are dressed in revealing and often androgynous getups. Once in Germany, Bumper goes to a club where two men kiss passionately (in a couple of different locations). (It should be noted from the conversation afterward, however, that the men we hear from are married and have kids, and Bumper frequently talks about his ex-girlfriend, Amy.) They talk about being “queens” and offer words of encouragement to others: “To all the queens fighting alone, you’re not dancing on your own,” they sing. And his first step is performing at a local pretzel festival.īefore leaving for Germany, Bumper sings with his all-male American a cappella group (the Tone Hangers), and they sing what sounds like an LGBT anthem. Still, with Peiter’s encouragement, Bumper’s still going to try to make a go at finding fame and fortune here. The title means, in German, “a face in need of a slap.” That’s the first impression that Bumper makes on a few people as he tries to familiarize himself in Berlin-especially when he meets DJ Das Boot. But just like Bumper, you might feel some discomfort while you’re there.Įpisode Reviews Nov. If you and your family can navigate those issues, Peacock’s version of Berlin might be an OK place to visit. Language can be both off-color and out of tune, with s-words flung like rotten tomatoes. Same-sex couplings and references are not uncommon on Berlin’s streets and in its clubs. Sexual jokes and allusions often show up, both on and off stage. So, even though Bumper has gone to Berlin, the show has the same sweet Pitch Perfect melodies and frustratingly dissonant beat.

But tabulate its problems (as we do here at Plugged In), and we find a surprisingly robust list. The characters were likable and the music was dynamite, which helped the whole thing go down a bit smoother. The Pitch Perfect movies often felt sweet.
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And as the story begins, the show’s vibe feels very much in line with the movie series itself. Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin is your typical singing-fish-out-of-water story, featuring the Pitch Perfect franchise’s most reliably goofy foil. Not with Peiter’s former partner, Gisela, standing in his way. Peiter’s sister, the famous DJ Das Boot, seems far too cool to work with Bumper-but perhaps she’ll come around yet.īut to begin his climb to fame, Bumper must claim a spot on the stage for the city’s prestigious Unity Day celebration-and that won’t be easy. Peiter’s in his corner, as is Peiter’s secretly talented assistant, Heidi. Bumper must build his fame from the German ground up.Īt least he’s not alone.

If Bumper moves to Berlin right now, he just might find the success that’s always eluded him back home.Īlas, when Bumper arrives, he soon discovers that Peiter exaggerated his popularity a bit. And while Bumper’s fame may be flagging in the States, he’s a viral hit in Germany-sort of a shorter David Hasselhoff, if you will. Seems that Peiter’s a talent manager now. But then he gets a call from Peiter Krämer, one-time leader of another rival a cappella group (the German supergroup DSM, which we met in Pitch Perfect 2). When the show opens, Bumper is still hanging out with an a cappella group at Barden University (though all his fellow singers are well into middle age and he’s working there as a security guard). Maybe, in fact, that corner might be as far away as Berlin.

And while he still believes that, the singer would acknowledge that fame and fortune have been lurking longer than he thought they would-and the corner seems some distance away. And Bumper-well, he’s had a hard time moving on.īack then, Bumper was positive that fame and fortune were lurking just around the corner. It’s been a whole decade since Bumper Allen’s college a cappella group, the Barden Treblemakers, lost a musical showdown with their archrivals, the Barden Bellas (as chronicled in the movie Pitch Perfect).
