Though the makers would certainly deny that “Pitch Perfect,” a comedy-with-music about a girls’ collegiate a capella singing group, is a rip-off of “Glee,” even they would probably find it hard to keep a straight face if they claimed there weren’t some degree of “inspiration” involved. There are certainly other antecedents at work here—the “Bring It On” series is an obvious one—but for most viewers this is going to be a pretty “Glee”-ful experience. What that means is that if the Fox phenomenon is still on your hit list, the movie is probably for you. If not, or if it never was, you might very well feel differently.

But even a big “Glee” fan might well be depressed at how sourly “Pitch Perfect” opens—at the national competition where the Barden University Bellas literally choke in the finals when their high-strung leader Aubrey (Anna Camp) throws up violently in the middle of their traditional, rather dull number. That sequence reminds one suspiciously of one “Glee” climax, of course. Here it hands the trophy to the Bellas’ male campus rivals, the Treblemakers, headed by burly braggart Bumper (Adam DeVine). (The vomit business, unsavory to start with, is actually trotted out again late in the picture—to equally nauseating effect.)

The following fall, Aubrey and her loyal second-in-command Chloe (Brittany Snow) are recruiting new members for the group. They sign up a brash extra-size girl who calls herself Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson), initiating a slew of overweight jokes that run through the picture, as well as an Asian-American kid named Lilly (Jana Mae Lee), who’s so preternaturally reticent that she whispers everything she says, making the words practically inaudible. (What her value might be to a singing group is never explained.) The most important addition, though, turns out to be reluctant Beca (Anna Kendrick, who, in the race to appear in the most movies in 2012, seems to be aiming for the gold medal), a girl who wants to be in the L.A. music scene but has been forced to attend Barden by her divorced dad, an English prof at the school, from whom she’s estranged.

The rest of “Pitch Perfect” follows familiar beats. Beca is romanced by affable Jesse (Skyler Astin), an inexhaustibly nice guy who’s recruited by the Treblemakers, which makes him untouchable for any Bella as far as Aubrey is concerned. Jesse has a buddy named Benji (Ben Platt), a sweet fellow who’s rejected by the Treblemakers and pines away quietly until he gets his big break at an unexpected moment. Beca spars with Aubrey over the Bellas’ routines, arguing for more contemporary tunes rather than the staid, old-fashioned numbers that never earn them more than runner-up status. And Fat Amy tosses off quips every few minutes directed at everybody else as well as herself. Of course, nobody ever cracks a book or seems even to own one.

And, needless to say, the threadbare story is punctuated every few minutes by musical numbers. Those at competitions are the subject of play-by-play commentary from broadcast booth partners John and Gail (John Michael Higgins and producer Elizabeth Banks) that’s alternately smarmy and catty, informing us of how we’re supposed to be reacting to the various routines but never being very funny about it. (They should have taken lessons from “Best in Show.”) But there’s also plenty of room for a big spontaneous campus sing-off pitting the girls against the guys that ends in a decision that would be less deflating if the rules didn’t seem made up on the spur of the moment.

Naturally everything ends in a production number at the closing national competition in which the Bellas wow the crowd and Beca and Jesse inevitably overcome the obstacles that have arisen to their relationship. There are a couple of problems in the sequence. One is that it explicitly references “The Breakfast Club”—which violates an absolute rule of thumb, that you should never invite comparisons to a movie far better than yours. The other is that, unless my ears deceive me, the Bellas’ number—staged, as in “Glee,” with dash and precision that would put any Broadway musical to shame—features drums and other instruments throbbing away in the background. If you’re going to glorify a capella, shouldn’t it be kept that way?

“Pitch Perfect” has a lot of energy, and an affable young cast, with the always agreeable Kendrick making a spunky heroine and Wilson providing the kind of wacky comic fizz that effortlessly steals scenes. And the musical numbers are certainly vigorous and spiffy. But despite its ebullience, technical polish and desire to please, the picture comes across as overly derivative and hits a surprising number of sour notes.