Just when you think they couldn’t possibly go there again, film franchises do.

Pitch Perfect 3 is the (shock) third instalment chronicling the misadventures of a capella singing troupe The Bellas.

It follows the same successful formula of the previous two films: bunch of lost college students/adults find one another, rekindle their passion for singing, overcome some relationship and other setbacks and in the end, triumph in song.

Pitch Perfect 3 is never going to be lauded for its film-making prowess, but it’s a classic chick-flick and rates high on laughs and pure entertainment factor.

And on a Friday night with a glass of wine and a good girlfriend, it’s a good safe bet.

The movie opens with the members of The Bellas growing weary with the responsibilities and demands of adulthood.

Anna Kendrick, who plays Beca, finds her job as a music producer tedious and unfulfilling, and only the irrepressible Fat Amy, reincarnated a third time by Australian comic Rebel Wilson, seems unfazed by the status quo.

Years since the group has reunited, let alone sung together, they women meet to watch a concert performed by a younger singing troupe and are thrust into an even deeper depression.

While sinking drinks and feeling morose, Aubrey (Anna Camp) suddenly remembers her father is a senior member of the US military and could pull in a favour allowing The Bellas to sing again at a series of concerts for the troops.

Cue hot love interests, a brilliant “riffing” competition with other bands vying for top billing with DJ Khaled at the final, televised military show and a rekindling of the old friendships from the first two movies.

Ruby Rose as Calamity, the bitchy front-woman of the hilariously named Ever Moist girl band, is a villainous antidote to the pep of The Bellas but didn’t have much to work with.

The film would have benefitted by inverting the time-old trope of jealous women somehow.

And when Fat Amy’s estranged father Fergus (John Lithgow) arrives on the scene chasing access to a bank account in the Cayman Islands, things take an even dicier turn, particularly aboard his whacky Fat Dingo Bitch yacht.

I still don’t know if Lithgow was trying to do an Australian accent, it wasn’t great though and came off as strangely cockney. He's fabulous otherwise.

Pitch Perfect 3 is enjoyable because it pokes fun at itself, with two little-known cast members regularly picked out as weaker characters ripe for being “knocked off” and some hilarity induced by narration reminiscent of the old singing competition days.

In fact, the show justifies the odd-ball narration and regular appearance of singing competition hosts Gail (Elizabeth Banks) and John (John Michael Higgins) because they are filming a documentary about the original singing troupe.

It’s a long bow to draw but the comedic tete-a-tete between the pair is fun and it’s worth listening to John’s misguided misogyny if only for one of the final scenes where he fails to live up to the mark in a big way.

By the final concert it’s friendship and passion for music that triumphs.

With three successful instalments on their hands, The Bellas have more-than-proved they can dish out the good feels, comedy and absurdity we’ve come to love and expect.

And if you’re still in doubt, wine make everything better!