The main characters in this film are played by Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah – stars whose songs that Ryan Murphy’s Glee cast may one day cover due to their vintage and their relative irrelevance to the popular music scene in the past few decades. Rounding up the wide demographic appeal are younger, not much more consequential singers Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordon.
Believe it or not, their church choir, specialising in old school gospel music, is due for the regional finals of a church choir competition, with a possible pip at the nationals. And amidst all this preparation, we have the prerequisite catfights between the two divas and frenemies who form the core of the choir, and a boy meets girl on the wrong side of the fence romance. Yes, everyone plays a bigger than life stereotype in a storyline broad enough to stop a bus. Dolly Parton is the moneyed, catty diva, Queen Latifah is the stubborn working class diva, while Jeremy Jordan plays the outsider grandson of Parton’s character who wants to date Queen Latifah’s character’s daughter while bringing radical change to the choir so it can finally start winning competitions.
Like I said, much of the plot is paper thin and broadly painted. But like all musicals, it’s just there as a device to get everyone burst out in song – which is where the talent of the cast is. From a lovely country duet to old school gospel pieces to arrangements of pop and hip hop to a finale medley that throws in everything but the kitchen sink, Joyful Noise covers a wide spectrum of music that may one day be featured on Glee, if that series runs long enough. It’s no work of art but it sure gets my foot tapping.
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