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New 'Joyful Noise' movie delivered a ton of drama,highly emotional performances & more. Warner Bros. Pictures released their new musical/drama flick "Joyful Noise" into theaters this weekend. I just watched it,and thought it was ok. It delivered some very emotional and entertaining performances,along with a lot of drama. It stars: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Courtney B. Vance, Jeremy Jordan,and Kris Kristofferson. In the flick, a character named Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) gets the position of choir director over Dolly Parton's character G.G. Sparrow in the Divinity Church Choir. However, a conflict arises when Vi's old tired songs keep causing the choir to lose the National Joyful Noise Competition. When G.G.'s grandson Randy Garrity comes to town,he quickly weaves his way into the fold of the choir and Vi's daughter Olivia Hill. However, stubborn Vi doesn't like Randy,...

Joyful Noise

Directed by: Todd Graff

Cast: Dolly Parton, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan

Running Time: 1 hr 57 mins

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: January 13, 2012

Plot: Two members (Pardon and Latifah) of a church struggle for power to control the famous gospel choir, which has nationwide champion potential.

Who’S It For? Arriving during the peak reign of Generation “Glee,” Joyful Noise is narrowly targeted towards fans of musicals and gospel music. Fans of Dolly Parton and/or Queen Latifah might enjoy seeing the actresses on-screen again, but will be disappointed by both the lack of chemistry between the duo, and the entire boring experience of Joyful Noise.

Expectations: Even with a musical released in January, there’s still room for a critical surprise. After catching a whiff from the cast list of the type of special movie this might be, I avoided trailers and any other form of information about this movie.

For a film about a gospel choir and the push and pull of faith within its singers’ lives, Joyful Noise has a funny way of getting its message of love and hope across. I understand it’s 2012 and we must show a progressive slant on the church in order to reach audiences and not turn a majority away before the theatre lights dim, but some of the stuff happening in this film is borderline offensive as it panders to the lowest common denominator in its clumsy quest to inspire. Hot-button topics like Asperger’s and military service are hijacked in service of yelling at God for his lack of compassion while a plethora of heavy-handed, holier-than-thou morality quips are injected into the script. It appears as though the actors are reading quotes from a badly written sermon on cue cards just off screen.

Tagged ‘Dream Louder’, its entire main plotline...