Anna Kendrick makes quick wit feel like a way of managing awkwardness, and her reactions can be as funny as her lines. We like her most when the jokes leave room for ambition and uncertainty.
Fi1m perspective
Watch Anna Kendrick when somebody else has the line. Her ease in reaction shots means she can make a joke register without needing another speech. The quick wit often comes with an awkwardness that keeps her characters from seeming too pleased with themselves. Her breakthrough as Natalie Keener opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air (2009) gave her ambition and vulnerability to work with. Those are qualities we would like her films to ask for more often.
Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) gives that comic alertness a suitable home in its busy ensemble, where she plays Stacey Pilgrim. The jokes are precisely arranged, and Kendrick’s ease with a reaction fits Wright’s tightly timed comedy. We laughed, and the accuracy of the jokes kept us patient when the fights began repeating themselves. It is a film we recommend with that reservation. The pleasure is in how well the performers serve the jokes, though we would not mistake this for a film built around Kendrick.
The shift to franchise lead came with Beca Mitchell in Pitch Perfect (2012), which put her singing alongside the comic timing. Kendrick has the vocal confidence for musical performance without losing the awkward, recognisable person doing it. The Last Five Years (2015) is another reason to take her singing seriously. The reservation is that quick-witted amiability can become all a film asks of her.
That limitation is worth keeping in mind with Walt Dohrn’s Trolls Band Together (2023), where she voices Poppy alongside Justin Timberlake’s Branch. The pair set off to reunite his former boy band, and Elizabeth Tippet’s script offers little beyond that errand. We found more care in the animated textures than in the story. Small children should be happy, but the film gives little reason to remember the characters afterwards. There is not enough here to recommend it as a place to discover what Kendrick can do.
Her move into directing with Woman of the Hour (2024), in which she also plays Sheryl Bradshaw, takes her beyond the pattern of comedies, musicals and voice work. There is no need to treat that as a rejection of the lighter films. We would simply welcome more acting parts that ask her to be unsure of herself, rather than always ready with an answer.
Biography
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born 9 August 1985) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut aged 12 in the 1998 musical High Society, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She made her film debut in the musical comedy Camp (2003).
Kendrick appeared in supporting roles in the Twilight film series (2008–2011) and gained wider recognition for her performance in Up in the Air (2009), which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She starred as Beca Mitchell in the Pitch Perfect series (2012–2017) and has voiced Poppy in the Trolls animated films, including Trolls Band Together (2023). She made her directorial debut with the thriller Woman of the Hour (2023).
