Joyful Noise Movie Review [3.3/10]
Joyful Noise - Review
Review by Star Tribune
“Joyful Noise” is a sort of Wal-Mart movie, not exactly trendsetting but a decent enough offering for the heartland. The premise smacks of focus-group research more than inspiration, but it hits the target. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton in a feel-good musical about a church choir — tell me how that could miss.
The singers play the rivalrous queen bees of a small-town Georgia church that never makes it beyond the semifinals in the national gospel competition. Latifah is the strict but kindly choir leader, a believer in tried-and-true spirituals. Parton is the church’s biggest donor, who thinks it’s time for some newfangled material.
Each character is allowed some humanizing flaws. Latifah is a bossy moral bulldozer and Parton is a tad vain. As she justifies it, “God didn’t make plastic surgeons so they could starve.” That line is the litmus test for the movie. If you laughed, you’ll have a good time.
Review by Film.com
After two music-themed films that were better than you’d expect, writer/director Todd Graff has hit a sour note with Joyful Noise. This overlong and forgettable comedy about a gospel choir is so uninspiring that I’m not even concerned about using the “sour note” cliche. The movie deserves no better!
Graff’s Camp and Bandslam were refreshing in the way they addressed teenagers without pandering to them, depicting a summer theater camp and a battle-of-the-bands competition, respectively, with honesty and affection. They weren’t great movies, but they had some life to them. In contrast, Joyful Noise feels phony and pointless, a muddle of discarded Glee subplots.
At least it has the good fortune of being enacted with enthusiasm by a very appealing cast, or else it would be completely unbearable instead of just mundane. That cast is headed by Queen Latifah and, of all people, Dolly Parton, who has not appeared on the big screen since 1992′s Straight Talk.
Review by Vulture
There are many, many moments in Todd Graff’s spirited rock-gospel musical A Joyful Noise when you’ll find yourself rolling your eyes, but you’ll have more fun if you try to roll them in time with the rollicking numbers. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton play Vi Rose Hill and G.G. Sparrow, two bounteous, battling members of the Sacred Divinity Choir of Pacashau, Georgia, one African-American, poor, and pious, the other white, rich, and exuberantly (surgically) enhanced. Vi Rose takes over the choir after G.G.’s husband, Bernard (Kris Kristofferson), has a fatal heart attack in the first scene, the climax of the group’s semifinals-winning performance in the national “Joyful Noise” singing competition. To add to the awkwardness, G.G.’s rambunctious grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan), is over the moon for Vi Rose’s angel-faced-and-voiced daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer).
Add a Comment
| Print article |
