The Racked Focus Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

In this week’s review, I will be reviewing Maxwell Haddad’s review of my current favourite movie of 2012, Pitch Perfect.  This review was put up on The Racked Focus on October 7, 2012.  I have a lot to say about the review.  Why don’t we get started?

The introductory paragraph of the review was one of the best introductory paragraphs that I have seen Max write.  I might say this almost every time, but there is a lot to like about the introduction to his Pitch Perfect review.  It is the basic set-up of your average essay.  It goes from a vague, all-encompassing statement and ties it specifically to the subject being written about.  In this case, Max brings the idea of having fun while watching a movie into the topic of Pitch Perfect and how much he enjoyed it.  The movement from one sentence to the next is wonderful.  Excuse the pun, which is completely intentional, but Maxwell’s introductory paragraph is nearly pitch perfect.

Also just as spectacular is the vocabulary that Maxwell Haddad employs throughout his reviews.  I have been a fan of his work with words since I began reviewing the reviews of The Racked Focus.  This time is no different.  There are words used by Max that I would not even think of using, ever.  One such moment came at the end of the introductory paragraph when Max used the word “ebullient.”  Moments like this never cease to amaze me while reading reviews.  I am left in a state of wonderment when I look at the words that people use.  I don’t have such a wide vocabulary as many writers, so it is like an exotic delicacy to me.  I want to eat the words up.  Max is the chef, cooking up the food that I eat.  And boy, do I eat it up.

What I don’t eat up, however, is the moment where a writer begins to list off names.  In Maxwell’s review of Pitch Perfect, he took a moment to list off names.  When done well, a list can be a benefit to a review and help it to succeed.  Many times, I have seen a seamless integration of lists into Max’s reviews; however, in this case, he simply named names of actors in the movie.  This is tedious to read and causes a slight disconnect when into the groove of the review.  Also, the list itself has slight misdirection in that it says that all of the names have nice singing voices, but at no time do we hear Elizabeth Banks sing.  That’s a minor issue, compared to the listing itself, but an issue all the same.

Any other issues with the review are small; a few minor spelling and grammatical issues are present.  The most notable comes in the third paragraph when the word “is” follows a contraction that includes the word “is.”  This is a redundancy that takes away from the sentence.  Some quick editing could easily fix this.

All in all, this is another solid review from the man himself, Maxwell Haddad.  It might not show him at the top of his game, but it sure shows off his talents.  The flaws in the Pitch Perfect review only help to accentuate how good of a writer Max can be.  The review certainly is not anything substantial, but at the same time by having the potential to bring such joy and wit to his audience (myself especially), Max ends up being more than just your average film writer.