By Susan JAMES

The girls have totally taken over the franchise in “Pitch Perfect 3,” the last call for the Barden University BFF songsters known as the Bellas. Directed by Trish Sie from a screenplay by Kay Cannon, the all-female singing group that took their college competition by storm in “Pitch Perfect” (2012) and made a splash on the international stage in “Pitch Perfect 2” (2015) has two years later moved on to tough times. No one is doing as well as they thought they would. Jobs are scarce and – surprise, surprise – it’s a big, cold world out there.

Against heavy odds, Beca (Anna Kendrick) is trying to get her career as a music producer off the ground. Chloe (Brittany Snow) is trying to start a career as a veterinarian; Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is performing on street corners and Aubrey (Anna Camp) just really, really wants to see her dad in the Army. At a reunion held in the local aquarium, the Bellas are trying to fluff off their disappointments when Aubrey announces that the Army is hosting a USO tour to Europe. Performing their music, the tour would give the Bellas one last chance to shine. Top group on the tour gets a chance to open for DJ Khaled (played by himself) at a major music festival in France. No prizes for guessing where this film is going.

Built on a wafer-thin plot, the movie is saved by the energy of the music and the commitment of the singing groups, not just the Bellas but a tough as nails female rock group called Evermoist, a country-western band, a black soul group and some backup from random military personnel who just happen to be hanging around the rehearsal hangar and who all have great singing voices.

The humor is over the top – and doesn’t always work. Rebel Wilson’s raunchy dialogue as Fat Amy is often cringe-worthy but her Melissa McCarthy-style ninja scenes saving her friends from some bad guys on a yacht are a bright spot. Prince Charmings in the form of a sexy soldier (Matt Lanter) and an English record producer (Guy Burnet) hover around the fringes of the action. But the whole point of the film is its relevance to what is happening in the real world. Women supporting women is the core theme; no Prince Charmings needed. The message may come off a bit heavy-handed but the applause from the women in the audience proves that it resonates.

Funny notes are offered by Christopher Guest stalwart John Michael Higgins, as John, the stereotype of a male chauvinist, by his female foil, Gail, played by Elizabeth Banks, who directed “Pitch Perfect 2,” and Australian lashings of evil courtesy of John Lithgow. With a USO salute to the troops, everyone’s life now seems on the upswing.

If “Pitch Perfect 3” is to be the Bellas’ swan song, then the success of Beca as a solo singer, standing in the spotlight in the final scene backed by her tried and true friends, is the perfect image to wrap it all up.

See you at the movies!

  susan james