Think Glee with a religious twist. Joyful Noise, starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, features all the rival divas, angsty romance and moving musical numbers of the hit TV show—plus the timing of a bad sitcom (sans laugh track) and the melodrama of a movie of the week. The rousing arrangements performed by both industry icons and fresh faces are the only saving graces in what’s otherwise a mess of slight plot and lazy dialogue—although you may find yourself laughing—hard—at how bad the jokes are.
Just as the Sacred Divinity Church Choir from Pacashau, Ga., makes it to regionals in the National Joyful Noise Competition, it loses its fearless leader Bernie (an awkward Kris Kristofferson, looking like he got dragged in on a favor) to a heart attack. The church board, led by Pastor Dale (Courtney B. Vance) selects Vi Rose Hill (Latifah) to replace him, passing over Bernie’s wife G.G. (Parton, in her first lead role in 20 years), a wealthy widow who controls the church’s purse strings. Times are hard, and without a win, the congregation can no longer go on funding the choir, but Vi Rose stays the course with a traditional repertoire and a philosophy that “I don’t care about hearing you. I want to hear God through you.” In other words, don’t get too flashy, a warning sternly directed at her daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer).
Meanwhile, G.G.’s troublemaking nephew Randy (rising Broadway star Jeremy Jordan, a find) arrives, spies Olivia in the choir and decides to join. He’s got some killer arrangements that would jazz things up and give Divinity a shot at beating Detroit at regionals, but Vi Rose won’t have it. Will she come around in time to win—and save their town? (How, exactly, winning a national singing competition will open Main Street’s closed storefronts goes unexplored.)
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