The slow-moving gospel musical Joyful Noise agnostically alternates between the religious and the secular and winds up with something blessed with jubilation. Peppered with references to humility and greed, this family-themed musical story follows two Baptist churchgoing women suddenly abandoned by their men who must choose whether to suffer or live in the light. Rich grandmother G.G. (Dolly Parton, all bust, make-up and post-cosmetic operative) loses her husband (Kris Kristofferson), gains a wayward grandson (Jeremy Jordan) and faces off with her choir’s newly appointed director, nurse Vi Rose (Queen Latifah, Just Wright) as they head into national competition. Vi Rose has already lost her husband (Jesse L. Martin, Rent) to the Army and is trying to raise an autistic child (Dexter Darden) and a strong-minded daughter (Keke Palmer, Akeelah and the Bee).
Joyful Noise packs in both stories and songs, with subplots about independence and interracial romances, in this economically depressed Georgia town laced with lessons about faith, grief and pride. Ultimately singing praise to God with modern tunes by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, a country ballad by Parton and an old-fashioned Negro spiritual beautifully rendered by Latifah, who executive produced, the racially harmonious film wakes up in the last act when the church choir gets to the competition, no thanks to a conservative pastor (Courtney B. Vance). They compete against Our Lady of Perpetual Tears and others in a Glee-like climax that showcases everyone’s inner talent and a subplot wrap that’s sure to tick off feminists. Though it takes a while to come to life, and it’s a strictly superficial outing, Joyful Noise, composed by Mervyn Warren (Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit), makes you want to say “Amen!”