Joyful Noise
Director: Todd Graff
Actors: Keke Palmer, Queen Latifah, Jeremy Jordan
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Music
Running time: TBC TBC minutes
Cheesey, forced and awkward, you get the impression Joyful Noise is still exactly the type of production the filmmakers wanted to make. Playing like a hyper-extended sitcom, this film would not have seen the light of day if it wasn’t for the (now fading) success of Glee.
Parton and Latifah play two strong-minded women who both believe they should be given the role of director of a successful choir when former rhythm guider Kris Kristofferson buys the farm. When the younger members of their families become involved with each other, further complications ensue. All of this plot stuff is broken up with musical interludes as the choir belt out some impressive tunes - most notably youngster Keke Palmer, who has a fine set of pipes on her.
This is lazy Sunday afternoon watching and it's most basic. Your Granny wont be offended by it, the younger members of your family can sit through it and generally it just plods along, existing, which seems to be the point. This is light and fluffy stuff, and the casting of the two female leads pretty much tells you that before given glancing at the plot. The fact both ladies are obviously gifted when it comes to warbling a tune helps, and they bounce off each other well enough at points, but it's painfully forced at others.
It's predictable, momentarily sweet stuff with a couple of decent musical numbers. But it's also painfully middle-of-the-road and there's precious little here to differentiate it from a small screen series - apart from the two "star" names in the lead roles.
A whole lot of "meh" wrapped in a squeaky clean, middle-American safe package.
