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‘Joyful Noise’: Praise the gospel, not the plot

MOVIE REVIEW

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 13, 2012|By Ty Burr

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah in the musical drama Joyful Noise. (Van Redin/Warner Brothers…)

Hot gospel singing and earnest family squabbles are all that distinguish “Joyful Noise,’’ a pew-pounding musical drama starring Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, and the skeletal remains of Dolly Parton. Todd Graff’s film has been made possible by the success of “Glee’’ on television, and the up-tempo pop revisionism of that show gets a churchy makeover here. Paul McCartney’s 1970 hit “Maybe I’m Amazed’’ as a paean to the Lord? Only if the singer can sell it like she believes it. Which she does, thank God.

The singer in question is Olivia Hill, played by Palmer, who five years ago was the little girl in “Akeelah and the Bee.’’ At 18, Palmer sings like she’s tearing something inside her up by the roots, and she has a sad, watchful face that occasionally lights up with 1,000-watt joy. The movie doesn’t give her much to be happy about. Olivia’s mother, Vi (Latifah), has taken over the leadership of the Divinity Church choir in the tiny, economically flattened town of Pacashau, Ga., and she’s a force of nature who favors old-fashioned choral arrangements and old-fashioned parenting.

“Joyful Noise’’ sets up a conflict between Vi and the church’s benefactor, G.G. Sparrow (Parton, in her first major movie role in two decades), whose choir-leader husband, played by Kris Kristofferson, has dropped dead within seconds of the actor’s name appearing in the opening credits. G.G. has spunk, an ear for new sounds, and a good-bad grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan) - pronounced “Ray-un-day’’ - who falls for Olivia. What she doesn’t have is any material to remind you that this woman sang gritty country heartbreakers like “Jolene’’ way back in the early ’70s. Parton is doing blond Cher here, face-lift jokes and all, and that’s a waste of a perfectly good legend.

Graff is a former actor who now specializes in writing and directing let’s-put-on-a-show throwbacks to the days of Mickey and Judy. His first was 2003’s awkward but adorable “Camp,’’ his second the slicker but still engaging “Bandslam’’ (2009). The more professional Graff gets as a filmmaker, the more formulaic his movies have become, and “Joyful Noise’’ is as predictable as an EKG, its beats of mother-daughter struggle and star-crossed romance Lite coming in steady, timeworn fashion. The movie’s better than its trailer - it’d have to be - but not nearly enough.