Movie Review: Joyful Noise

Joyful Noise


Release: 13 January 2012
Starring: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, and Jordan Palmer
Director: Todd Graff
Genre: Contemporary Comedic Drama, Slice-of-Life, Inspirational, Coming of Age, Music
Length: 118 min.
Rating: PG-13


Tagline
Dream a whole lot louder.


Basic Premise
The hopes of an entire town falling into economic despair ride on a humble church choir who want desperately to win a gospel national championship.





My Review
I admit I went to see this movie for the way wrong reasons. I didn't care about the premise. The singing was a bonus. I saw three things I liked and that was enough to get me in a seat:
#1 - Interracial romance
#2 - Queen Latifah
#3 - Dolly Parton

All three of those factors made for a wonderful slice-of-life movie. There was comedy, romance, sadness, and joy. This movie ran the emotional gauntlet, inciting laughter and tears alike. You felt every characters emotions as the actors delivered wonderful performances.

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah played off each other spectacularly. I loved watching them and I'm looking forward to the actor interviews (if there are any) in the DVD extras.

Above all else, this is a spiritual movie (read Christian fiction). I kind of felt bad for not seeing it on a Sunday. But don't let that deter you. This movie doesn't preach. It shows the drama of normal, everyday people who struggle with their lives and their faith.

To all the parents, be warned there is mild adult language. Nothing too harsh but it is there and very obvious.


Review: Valerie Mann
I looked forward to seeing Joyful Noise since I saw the trailer a month or so ago. I was not disappointed. It was a great movie with all of the things I love in a movie - humor, emotion, a variety of personalities and, of course, music. It was so refreshing to have a movie come out of Hollywood that isn't ashamed to show people immersed in the joy they find in their faith without characterizing them as religious freaks. As an author, I'm looking for a plot to satisfy me and conflicts to be resolved believably. Joyful Noise succeeded with a HEA ending for the goal of the characters as a whole and a HFN for the characters individually. And when was the last time you went to a movie and heard applause at the end? I'd give this movie a big thumbs up and recommend it if you want an uplifting show to make you feel good.



Review: Megan Kelly
Joyful Noise reminded me of an episode of "Glee" but set in a church instead of high school. I expected to love it, but came out feeling it was "just okay." A few characters have depth to their stories, but I felt they were trying to do too much, and consequently spread the story too thin. A good effort with fun music.