Joyful Noise (2012): Dir: Todd Graff / Cast: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan, Kris Kristofferson: The joyful noise in question is not the sound of a great movie, but the sound of viewers snoring through one as mediocre as this one. It regards the uniting of talents and abilities as a Church choir competes in an annual contest but the pastor suddenly dies in the opening practice. Then we are left with two women bickering back and forth while their children unite in a petty romance. The story here is thin, formula and predictable with high end musical numbers that seem to celebrate the pop charts of yesterday as oppose to praising God. It is great to see Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton share the same space especially since their music genres are complete opposites. Latifah is left as choir director, a position that Parton felt that she should be given. Latifah is old school while Parton is open minded even when it comes to insults regarding plastic surgery. Jeremy Jordan plays Parton's grandson who lands on her door step after some apparent trouble back home. Keke Palmer plays Latifah's daughter who desires adulthood and will be romanced by Jordan. Their romance has all the quality of snoring during a Church sermon and viewers likely could care less. Kris Kristofferson appears in the flashbacks as Parton's late husband. We understand through its two talented leads that merging talents and personalities results in a choir pleasing to God, but despite its uplifting qualities, the only joyful noise I heard was the hurried rush of footsteps towards the theatre exit. Score: 5 / 10

Joyful Noise is one of those movies you should dismiss as feel-good corn, but because of the great music and endearing performances of the leads you end up enjoying.Vi-Rose (Queen Latifah) becomes the new leader of a gospel choir when GG's (Dolly Parton) husband dies. The rivalry between the two women forms the main storyline. Vi's daughter Olivia (Keke Palmer) falls in love with GG's wayward grandson Randy (Jeremy Jordan.) All of them are involved in the choir and must work together if they are to win a major choral competition and bolster the morale of their small town, a community hit by the economic meltdown.Sound predictable? It is. But it's also a lot of fun. Queen Latifah is authentic and believable as a single mother trying to hold it together. Parton delivers some killer lines ("God didn't make plastic surgeons so they could starve"). Palmer gives a resonant performance of Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror, and Jordan is likable, handsome and has a strong voice.

My review of the Joyful Noise Movie: Every single solitary, gimmicky, tired, old, wore-out, overdone movie cliché that's ever been used in any contrived, family-targeted movie in the history of cinema... and yet, the music was solid, the characters given some genuinely funny material to work with, and therefore there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes of your life. It was fantastic to hear new material from one of my favorite vocalists and lyricists, Dolly Parton... but it was worth the ticket price alone, to see Dolly "poppin' and lockin' for Jesus!" ...and I am personally convinced, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Dolly Parton was manufactured by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.~ <3

'Cause unfortunately, that is what this "competition comedy/drama" is missing, along with likable characters, believable situations and a definitive moral message that should have been the subject. The story is about a small town Georgia church choir who keeps going to the final rounds of a church choir competition and loosing only to face one more after the death of their choir master. Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, two totally likable performers, are given the unfortunate opportunity to play truly unlikable characters as they fight for control of the choir. The two characters prove that sometimes the supposed Godly church goers are even more toxic than the sinners they are trying to convert.Since these two stars have both appeared in different versions of that famous "chick play" "Steel Magnolias", it seems odd that their two characters end up being the total antithesis of the warm-hearted ladies of that classic. They go head to head from the very beginning in front of the church minister, and even later have a catfight in the restaurant where Latifah works. Since she also has a career as a nurse, I just wonder how she can find time to work two jobs, raise a family and run a choir, not to mention sleep! Then, there is the running gag of the poor chubby black choir member who wakes up to find her dead Asian date next to her, and her embarrassment over the sin and constant threat of exposure. The most sensible characters are Latifah's two children (one of them a young blind boy, the other a feisty young lady who ends up dating Parton's white ward) and Latifah's estranged husband. This weakens the inspirational message of the film, as does the point of the "Joyful Noise", the competition for top church choir.