'Joyful Noise' hits some hollow notes
-
Dolly Parton, left, and Queen Latifah butt heads over the church choir in "Joyful Noise."
Share with others:
"Joyful Noise" is a bit like co-star Dolly Parton. It's got so much going on -- and exaggerated -- that you're not sure where to look.
Take a wedding that happens during the course of the story that features the bride and groom, almost an afterthought, along with a rockin' gospel choir, family reunion and salute to the military, set against the backdrop of an economy in the doldrums.
Along the way, the movie is salted with pithy one-liners or jabs such as, "God gives you girls so your mama can say I told you so" or "Talk about old, you read the Bible to reminisce."
- Starring: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer.
- Rating: PG-13 for some language including a sexual reference.
"Joyful Noise" is set in a small fictional Georgia town where the church choir loses its choirmaster (Kris Kristofferson), husband of the wealthy G.G. Sparrow (Ms. Parton). The feisty widow is none too happy when her rival, the musically conservative Vi Rose (Queen Latifah), is chosen as the new choir leader.
Vi is a nurse and temporary single parent -- her husband rejoined the U.S. Army -- to 16-year-old Olivia (Keke Palmer), who is blessed with a powerhouse voice, and 15-year-old Walter (Dexter Darden) whose Asperger's syndrome leaves him feeling socially awkward and isolated. Vi's elevation in the choir coincides with the arrival of G.G.'s troublemaker grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan), who takes a shine to Olivia.
The personal stories are interwoven with a battle for the soul and survival of the church choir, a perpetual also-ran in the national Joyful Noise competition. That means plenty of performance time and songs (the soundtrack has a dozen) with all of the principals getting solos and then some.
"Joyful Noise," written and directed by Todd Graff ("Camp," "Bandslam"), excels on the musical front but introduces threads that go nowhere or silly squabbles, and tries too hard to be comically PG-13 racy when some lovin' proves lethal. G.G.'s unseen daughter, for instance, snubs her father's funeral, but no one ever says why, and fisticuffs or blow-ups are forgotten or smoothed over despite a leisurely two-hour runtime.
Ms. Parton's plastic surgery -- unmistakable on the big screen -- is acknowledged but frankly distracting. Nevertheless, the movie is engineered to be a crowd-pleaser with many more secular songs than you might expect as when Ms. Palmer soulfully delivers on "Man in the Mirror" and does a duet with Mr. Jordan, recently Clyde Barrow in Broadway's "Bonnie and Clyde," on "Maybe I'm Amazed."
It's clear the movie's heart is in the right place, even if its script is a holy hot mess.
First Published January 13, 2012 12:00 am
