1.5/5
Like Ben Folds as much as he likes himself?
If so, go snatch University A Capella!, the forty-something’s sweetest pop pitch yet. And it’s made by kids just like you: The former Billboarder enlisted a hodgepodge of collegiate a capella groups to revamp his resume.
What a surprise, then, that the lowly amateurs one-up the pro. This is a movie we’ve all seen before ‘mdash; students surpass teacher’s expectations, and how!
Folds’ thinly veiled scramble for street cred is a sadder story every repeat. Too bad: As one-third of the super-cute Ben club (along with Kweller and Lee), he could have had it in the bag.
Covers are hard for anyone to pull off, much less covers by a bunch of star-struck talents looking for their big break. Folds scrutinized hundreds of entries trying to capture America’s youthful ‘magic’ and release it to the public for a nominal fee. Spotlighting the nation’s newest vocal talents might be the best part of this equation, though, because most of the lead singers can belt Folds’ songs better than he can ‘mdash; even with Peter Pan-isms like ‘Everybody knows it sucks to grow up.’ Biggest props to the University of Georgia, whose choir covers ‘You Don’t Know Me’ with all of Regina Spektor’s ornamental whimsy.
‘Boxing’ yanks a lone soprano out of obscurity and sets her a-wailing over Folds’ boy-next-door croon; her Broadway trills ice his clunky vocals with stale-enough frosting. He responds like a man: ‘Sometimes I punch myself hard as I can.’ (Go on, do it.)
Just wondering ‘mdash; where exactly are the UCSD Tritones? Step it up! Maybe you’ll make Ben Folds’ newest Greatest Hits album if you can harmonize ‘Effington’ with the best of ’em.
Ben Folds will perform live in San Diego at the House of Blues on May 21 ‘mdash; sans a capella amateurs.