Joyful Noise brings no joy

Given I was a few minutes late and didn’t know what I was about to see, the sudden singing of a church choir surprised me. And not in the good way – the people on screen were smiling and singing and looked rather pained.

Joyful Noise is about a church choir in the small town of Pacashau that struggles to break through traditional Gospel styles and compete in the “Joyful Noise” competition under a financial deficit. The movie stars Queen Latifah as the strict mother of two teenagers who takes over the choir after the director’s death and Dolly Parton as the director’s widow. While the film offered strong and talented vocalists, there was a lack of decent song selections. The only two worth mentioning are Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

Joyful Noise is not only a musical but also a comedy. But I don’t consider it a comedy at all. I sat rather emotionless through the entire film. There were a few scattered laughs throughout the theatre but those were from people born with extra funny bones because there was absolutely nothing to laugh about. The funniest scene was when a minor character unexpectedly died, not because death is anything to be laughed about, but because it was the only unforeseen event.

Everything else in the film was predictable. One could practically play out the plot in mind without even watching the trailer. Think of the most typical factors of a movie ever – the teenage girl who happens to be just so darn pretty that boys fight over, the swoon-worthy bad boy with the voice of a million angels who captures the heart of the girl by helping out her brother with Asperger’s syndrome, the father in the military who is separated from his family – if I say anymore, I’d just about give away the entire movie. Picture a mash up of the awful High School Musical and Glee with endless references to God and there you have it.

So if you have a bit of money to spare and you feel like torturing yourself for nearly two hours, go ahead and watch Joyful Noise. Just prepare to watch a screen of people in purple robes relentlessly singing, dancing, and praying.