The idea of seeing Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton in a movie together, not to mention a movie about a gospel choir, is a particular kind of heaven. Latifah is a radiant performer capable of elevating even the most mundane material to a level of charm and grace unachievable by most mere mortals. And Parton, aside from having one of the sweetest and most haunting voices in all of country music, is a firecracker presence by herself -- if you could bottle force of will in a perfume bottle, you couldn?t name it anything but Dolly. But whatever Latifah and Parton might have achieved together in that mythical heavenly ideal, it?s just not coming together in this lifetime ? or at least not in Joyful Noise, a well-intentioned, pleasant-enough picture that shoots off in too many directions to ever ignite.
Latifah plays Vi Rose Hill, a sturdy, no-nonsense family woman who inherits the leadership of her church choir after the death of its beloved director (played, in just a few tiny scenes, by Kris Kristofferson). But this is a very small town we?re talking about -- Pacashau, Georgia, pop. 233, or something like that -- and petty rivalries and resentments abound. It turns out that G.G. Sparrow (Parton), who has contributed heaps of money to the church and who?s also a leading (and undeniably shapely) figure in its Divinity Church Choir, thinks she should inherit the mantle. She has some new ideas for the group, which she wants to implement before the all-important National Joyful Noise Competition. Vi Rose, a traditionalist, likes to do things the old-fashioned way. The two women start trading insults and play-fighting even before it becomes apparent that G.G.?s rapscallion grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan), who has just drifted into town from New York City,…
Jessica Biel Jessica Cauffiel Jessica Paré Jessica Simpson Zooey Deschanel Aaliyah Abbie Cornish Adriana Lima Adrianne Curry Adrianne Palicki
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