Pitch Perfect

The film opens at a national a capella competition. Barden University's all-female a cappella group, the Barden Bellas, performs well until Aubrey Posen vomits on stage during her solo, thus becoming a public humiliation and ruining the Bellas' chance of winning.

Four months later, newly arrived Barden freshman Beca Mitchell has no desire to attend college, but she is forced to do so by her father, a professor at the university with whom Beca has a strained relationship. Wishing she could instead pursue a career in music making, Beca spends her time making mash-up mixes of songs and takes up an internship at the school radio station, where she meets fellow freshman Jesse Swanson, who develops a crush on her.

When Beca's father discovers she has not been attending classes, he comes to her with a proposition: if she joins a club and still does not want to remain at college after a year, he will allow and pay for Beca to move to Los Angeles. After some persuasion from group leader Chloe Beale, she reluctantly joins the Barden Bellas. Aubrey doesn't initially approve of recruiting Beca, but yields nonetheless due to a desperate need for members and Beca's own talent. Beca joins alongside a group of other women who do not fit the Bellas' typical mold: Cynthia-Rose, Stacie Conrad, Lilly Onakuramara, and Fat Amy. Jesse is also revealed to have joined the Bellas' all-male rival group, the Treblemakers.

The Bellas participate in the southeastern regional competition at Carolina University where, at Aubrey's insistence, they perform the same medley that helped the Bellas advance to the finals the previous year. In spite of their old setlist, the group manages to place second, which gives them the bid to semi-finals. A brief scuffle after the competition leads to Beca's arrest by the police. Jesse tries to help by calling Beca's father, which infuriates Beca and turns their budding friendship sour. In the mean time, Beca suggests to the Bellas to try and be more daring, which everyone agrees to except Aubrey, who insists that they will win with the repertoire the group has always used in the past.

At the semi-finals, Beca provides an impromptu back-up of one of her favorite songs into the "traditional" song on the Bellas' setlist to make the crowd interested after they seemed to have lost interest. The Bellas come in third in the competition behind the Treblemakers and the Footnotes; even though the audience seemed to enjoy Beca's remix, Aubrey becomes furious and yells at Beca, who in turn quits the Bellas. When the Footnotes are later disqualified from the national competition because the lead singer was in high school, the Bellas are called to take part in their place. The Bellas get back together after returning from spring break, with the notable exception of Beca. During this time, Beca begins working as a DJ at the Barden radio station, playing her music on the overnight shift while also steadily distancing herself from Jesse. However, upon finding a copy of The Breakfast Club, Jesse's favorite film, and watching it on her own, while tearing up, she realizes how much movies aren't all about the ending but the journey of the characters and how much she misses the Bellas, which she is convinced by her father to rejoin.

During rehearsals, Chloe has managed to stand up against Aubrey's manipulation and her persistence. The group starts to fall apart as everyone wants to perform as the people they are and not to simply follow the old traditions of the Bellas, which sparks a fight. Meanwhile, Beca tries to apologize to Jesse, which he declines. Beca apologizes to the Bellas for her actions during the semi-finals and asks to have another chance, which Aubrey eventually allows. After having a group heart-to-heart conversation, the Bellas appoint Beca as their group leader and decide to adopt Beca's more modern and original music style. Meanwhile, group leader Bumper leaves the Treblemakers after being offered a job as a back-up singer for John Mayer. With Bumper gone, Jesse becomes the new group leader and persuades the Trebles to let his previously-rejected roommate Benji join the group in Bumper's place.

At the a cappella national competition, the Bellas sing a piece arranged by Beca, which includes the theme song from The Breakfast Club. This acts as a more effective apology from Beca to Jesse, and after the performance, they reunite with a kiss. Six months later, auditions are beginning for the new year while the Treblemakers and Bellas are preparing to select new members for their groups; Jesse and Benji are shown sitting at a desk in the audition hall, followed by Beca and her teammates who won the national competition at Lincoln Center.

Cast:

• Anna Kendrick as Beca Mitchell, a reclusive and rebellious Barden freshman who wants to pursue a music career; she joins the Barden Bellas to appease her father and finds herself being caught up in their world. She has trouble accepting her feelings for Jesse Swanson.
• Skylar Astin as Jesse Swanson, an outgoing Barden freshman who hopes to one day become a film score composer due to his great love for films. He joins the Barden Treblemakers.
• Anna Camp as Aubrey Posen, the uptight and traditionalist co-leader of the Bellas; when she vomited at Nationals the previous year, she ruined the Bellas' chance at winning . She is constantly critical and insists that The Bellas use the same set list the Bellas have been using for years.
• Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale, the kinder and more civil co-leader of the Bellas, whose attempts to get Aubrey to listen to Beca's suggestions get ignored. Chloe gets "nodes" (nodules) but continues to sing when she discovers she could sing in a substantially lowertessitura following the surgery.
• Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy (born Fat Patricia), a comedic and eccentric member of the Bellas from Tasmania.
• Ester Dean as Cynthia-Rose Adams, a lesbian member of the Bellas.
• Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad, a highly sexually-driven member of the Bellas.
• Hana Mae Lee as Lilly Onakuramara, a strange member of the Bellas who speaks too quietly to be heard but is later revealed to be a talented beatboxer.
• Ben Platt as Benji Applebaum, Jesse's nerdy roommate and an illusionist, who is initially rejected from the Treblemakers, and is later accepted.
• Adam DeVine as Bumper Allen, the egotistical leader of the Treblemakers.
• Utkarsh Ambudkar as Donald, Bumper's right-hand man, who beatboxes, raps, and is a main vocalist.
• Freddie Stroma as Luke, the radio station manager who plays Beca's DJ mixes on the air.
• Jinhee Joung as Kimmy-Jin, Beca's unfriendly Korean roommate.
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Tommy, the university's constantly harassed audition launcher.
• John Michael Higgins as John Smith, a misogynistic commentator for the ICCAs.
• Elizabeth Banks as Gail Abernathy-McKadden, a commentator for the ICCAs.
• John Benjamin Hickey as Dr. Mitchell, Beca's father, a professor at the college who insists that she attends classes and get involved.