Indexmenu 'JOYFUL NOISE' Church Choir's Dueling Divas
Come Out Singin' and Slingin' Van Redin/Warner Brothers Pictures
Dolly Parton,
left,
and Queen Latifah
in "Joyful Noise,"
which follows
their characters as they fight for control of the Sacred Divinity Choir before a singing contest.
By STEPHEN HOLDEN Published: January 13, 2012
The saving graces
of "Joyful Noise,"
a flimsy movie musical whose parts are pasted together with chewing gum and Scotch tape,
are its ornate gospel renditions of familiar pop tunes.
When you put singers
in choir robes and arrange the songs for chorus
and soloists to give them big,
churchy buildups,
hits by Michael Jackson ("Man in the Mirror"),
Paul McCartney
("Maybe I'm Amazed"),
Sly and the Family Stone
("I Want to Take You Higher"),
and Stevie Wonder ("Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours")
become sacred hymns.
Thus transfused, "higher" means spiritually exalted, and "yours" means in God's hands.
To which I say hallelujah, sort of.
The music includes
three new songs
by Dolly Parton,
who co-stars
with Queen Latifah
in the Sacred Divinity Choir of Pacashau, Ga.
A small town hit hard by the recession,
Pacashau is only the nominal setting of this inspirational pseudo-Southern hokum.
The real location of the film, directed and written by Todd Graff
("Camp," "Bandslam"),
is a lower echelon of musical comedy hell
(or heaven, if you love the hoariest musical comedy clichés). "Joyful Noise" wraps several entertainment modes into a hot fudge Sunday sundae. It is a suspense-free singing competition drama; a down-home, just-folks bucket of cornpone; a thwarted teenage romance of sweethearts without chemistry; and a silly extended cat fight with retracted claws.The dueling divas are the strait-laced Vi Rose Hill (Ms. Latifah), who is chosen to be the choir director over her saucy rival, G. G. Sparrow (Ms. Parton), after G. G.'s husband, Bernard (Kris Kristofferson), the choir master, dies of a heart attack during a performance. G. G., the choir's benefactor, is furious when Vi is selected by Pastor Dale (Courtney B. Vance) to succeed Bernard.
