It is true that Joyful Noise is a cliché film, some people may call it contrived or even cheesy, maybe there's some amount of truth in those claims, but it certainly doesn't change the fact that it is still entertaining and very fun to watch. It centers around a southern church choir and them competing in a big competition between gospel choirs. All the characters fit into the movie in an important way. Queen Latifah's character has many complexities to her, she is probably the heaviest character in the whole movie. Dolly Parton plays an older widow who is a big financial supporter of the church. The younger characters, Randy and Olivia (Keke Palmer) are pretty well put together, not nearly as heavy as Parton or Latifah, but still fairly good, and they accomplished what they needed to accomplish in the movie. The writing is what I really like because sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad and emotional, and then other times it is very uplifting and positive. I think there's a good mixture and range. I loved the music, the hip/new gospel performances that they put on, especially in the end, is very fun and it's almost impossible not to sing along. Dolly Partons to the moon and back with her deceased husband was a great thing to have in there too, because it added to the Movies heart and the overall feeling. Overall joyful noise is an entertaining somewhat light film that almost anyone can enjoy. And it's not overly religious or preachy either. 7/10.

Horrible, horrible, horrible!!! Where to begin? It didn't take me even 5 minutes of viewing this dreadful film to see how bad it is. The acting is beyond bad, the dialog is elementary, the plot is hardly believable, and worst of all, for a movie about a gospel choir, it should be a sin for there to be such obvious lip-syncing going on during some of the singing scenes.Dolly Parton as G.G. Sparrow and Queen Latifah as V. Rose Hill, two prominent, vocal (literally) members of a church choir, battle it out to see who's musical style will win out. Sparrow wants a contemporary sound and V. Rose Hill favors the more traditional gospel style. Of course, all parties involved will come together just in time to save the choir during the choir competition near the end. Yea right - in what alternate universe does this occur? Even their names tells you how utterly ridiculous this story is. Also unbelievable is the subplot about love between Olivia, V. Rose's daughter and Randy, Sparrow's grandson, played by Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan, respectively. Jordan and Palmer have negative (-)100% chemistry. Zip-O!!!! And the dialogue and interaction between these two are flat. Oh, and if you've never heard of these two,don't worry. You're not alone. Many viewers haven't. To her credit,Keke Palmer has a decent resume of work as an actress, and definitely was not as stiff as Jeremy Jordan, but she wasn't much better.Courtney B. Vance has a supporting role as the pastor of the church where the choir is based. He is clearly making the best of a terrible script. Dolly Parton also puts in a commendable performance, with her quirky but Southernly charm. One of the more touching parts of this sterile film is Dolly Parton's performance of "From Here to the Moon and Back". Otherwise, "Joyful Noise" runs like a 118-minute rip off of the Sister Act films, except Latifah's no Whoopi Goldberg and Keke Palmer's no Lauryn Hill.

If you love the exuberant singing on "Glee", chances are pretty good you will like this predictable 2012 musical and overlook the numerous plot deficiencies that bring the characters into a climactic singing competition. Naturally that means a lot of rehearsal filled with Whitney-style, gospel renditions of familiar Top 40 pop classics. On this level, it doesn't disappoint since the churchy arrangements bring out a roof-raising soulfulness that is otherwise missing from the flimsily plotted film. Energetic performances of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" definitely deliver the goods at key moments, but director/screenwriter Todd Graff ("Camp") relies on tired stereotypes and down-home hokum to fill out the framework of a story about a small Georgia town hard hit by the current economic downturn. Providing a beacon of light is the Sacred Divinity Choir anchored by two divas with opposing sensibilities, the conservative and financially struggling Vi Rose Hill and the saucy and wealthy G.G. Sparrow.The movie wastes no time in giving G.G.'s husband Bernard a fatal coronary even before the opening credits are complete. The uptight church pastor needs to find a successor and chooses Vi Rose over G.G. setting the stage for a stylistic war over the choir's musical direction. Naturally, Vi Rose prefers traditional gospel, while G.G. wants a more contemporary twist to the arrangements, which suits Vi Rose's 16-year-old daughter Olivia just fine since she is a budding soloist with those gymnastically limber, Mariah-inspired pipes you either love or hate. Complicating matters is G.G.'s juvenile delinquent grandson Randy, who of course, turns out to be a talented singer in his own right and falls head-over-heels for Olivia. Once you add Olivia's quirky younger brother Walter, who turns out to have Asperger's Syndrome, and Manny, a conveniently talented guitarist and Randy's rival for Olivia's affection, you have the makings of a suspense-free, by-the- numbers soap opera with the sophistication of a young adult novel.It wouldn't be giving much away to state that it all climaxes with a face-off between the choir and the prodigious Our Lady of Perpetual Tears youth choir, spotlighting lead singer Ivan Kelley Jr., who impresses with his knockout version of Billy Preston's "That's the Way God Planned It". The choir counters with a rousing medley of Sly and the Family Stone, Usher, Chris Brown and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours". Outside of the singing, the performances are serviceable and little more. Queen Latifah and a cosmetically altered Dolly Parton play Vi Rose and G.G. to their accustomed, outsized personalities. As Olivia, Keke Palmer ("Akeelah and the Bee") has a strong set of pipes as does current Broadway sensation Jeremy Jordan ("Newsies") as Randy, but neither makes much of an impression otherwise. Poor Kris Kristofferson has barely a moment as Bernard and then shows up later in a fantasy duet with Parton on her touching "From Here to the Moon and Back". Jesse L. Martin ("Rent") is also wasted in a small role as Vi Rose's estranged husband who escaped to the Army when he couldn't find a job. This is a highly conventional, cliché-driven film that is probably best left as a soundtrack purchase.

I'm 20 years old, I went with my house-mates to watch this. I'm an avid Dolly fan, the woman plays 10 different instruments and has that beautiful country soprano voice - I've loved her since I was a baby and in my eyes she can do no wrong. However I was worried this film wouldn't hit the mark, especially for my friends who weren't that bothered about Dolly or Latifah and were just watching this because the other choices were so unappealing. However...they absolutely loved them film, they laughed, cried, sang along and cheered...They absolutely loved it. It is a little cheesy at times, but not as much as you might think. By and large it's on the mark for comedy and the singing is beautiful. Give it a watch!!