Review of Joyful Noise, starring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah.
Dolly Parton makes her first movie appearance in 19 years in hokey gospel comedy JOYFUL NOISE.
Showbiz legend Dolly Parton teams up with Queen Latifah for her first movie in 19 years and Joyful Noise writer/director Todd Graff wastes the precious opportunity with hokey storytelling, a plot void of any surprises and sentimentality layered so thick that Joyful Noise comes off as the most self-righteous comedy in recent memory.
Latifah and Parton, sporting big hair and bigger hats, belt it from the very first scene as rival members of a small town church choir and it's great to hear them sing together. Still, despite a pair of show- stopping musical numbers at the film's climax, Joyful Noise falls flat even with the super-sized talents of its co-stars.
Newly appointed Divinity Church choir director Vi Rose Hill (Latifah) wants a conservative gospel performance with the choir politely standing in their purple robes singing traditional spirituals. Vi immediately butts heads with influential choir member G.G. Sparrow (Parton) who wants to add some showbiz flair with the help of her handsome grandson Randy (Broadway actor Jeremy Jordan).
The economic recession has taken a toll on their small town of Pacashau, Georgia and Divinity Church's chance at a national title in the Joyful Noise competition is the best news in the downtrodden town.
Vi's 16-year-old daughter Olivia (Keke Palmer) and Randy add new dance moves, some pop song selections and much-needed energy to the choir but Vi's stubbornness looks to derail any chance at winning the competition.
Keke Palmer, best known for Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson VP, is pretty and plenty charismatic but a subplot surrounding her absentee father (Jesse Martin) gets in the way of the movie's main drama.
Jeremy Jordan flashes bedroom eyes and a winning smile as Olivia's love interest and Dexter Darden brings some welcome humor to the soapy storytelling as Olivia's musical genius brother with Asperger's Syndrome.
Still, Joyful Noise is all about its larger-than-life leads and their struggle to rise above their cliché characters.
Queen Latifah suffers the most as the stern momma and Bible-carrying conservative reluctant to let her choir try something new. Latifah only comes to life in her musical numbers including a rousing rendition of the classic spiritual Fix Me Jesus and the climactic number at the Joyful Noise national finals.
Parton bulldozes her way through hokey country catchphrases and plastic surgery jokes and manages to maintain a good sense of humor throughout the movie.
To his credit, Graff (Bandslam and the little-seen pleasure Camp) keeps the storytelling brisk and bouncy and does an ample job moving past his numerous plot holes until an embarrassing scene where G.G. imagines the ghost of her late husband (Kristofferson) returning for a moonlight waltz in their front yard.
Finally, just before the film's closing credits roll, Graff and composer Mervyn Warren deliver two showstopper numbers at the film's climax. Ivan Kelly leads a rival children's choir in a fantastic rendition of "That's The Way God Planned It." Finally, the Divinity Church Choir samples pop songs from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Chris Brown, Sly & the Family Stone and Paul McCartney into a Vegas worthy number that packs more pleasure than the rest of the movie combined.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Cast: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Courtney B. Vance, Kris Kristofferson
Screenwriter: Todd Graff
Director: Todd Graff
Cinematographer: David Boyd
Editor: Kathryn Himoff
Music: Mervyn Warren
Producers: Alcon Entertainment
Running Time: 118 minutes
Rating: Rated PG-13
Release Date: January 13, 2012 (Showtimes & Tickets)