myspecialparadise At first, I wondered why this movie did not come out as a TV movie ... I mean, seriously, one of the main stars dies at the beginning ... which made me expect the rest of the movie to suffer the same fate. Me, and my assumptions, got a pretty nice surprise ... the movie took me higher as the minutes ticked by! Except for those times that I wanted to slap Queen Latifah upside her nappy head! Granted, its an old story, but the perfect cast gave this movie a whole new spin on the life of a feel good movie ... which was the reason movies were created in the first place, to take us away from our daily drudgeries, to lift us up and let us soar out of the theaters on a wave of exhilaration that washes away all of our troubles, even if only for just one evening.The down points are few ... but are worth noting as they tell us that even within a choir there are cat fights, back stabbings, and downright hatred for one's fellow man/woman ... which I did not pay the price of admission to see. I just don't believe that anyone whom supposedly loves God so much would result to downright slander and pettiness, as in the part that Queen Latifah plays against the part Dolly Parton plays. How does a person go from singing like an angel to scratching at someone with bared claws. However, I will say that some of the best acting in the whole movie is pulled out of Queen Latifah ... any entertainer would be proud as all heck to be chosen to be a part of anything that Queenie is a part of! Getting to Dolly Parton ... the woman is a walking miracle ... but some of the hairdos she wore in this movie were about a oogly as oogly can get! Dolly's fans want to see the glamorous Dolly with soft tresses ... not heavy metal spikes!!!!! One thing Dolly would have to admit to is that she, all too often, listens to the opinions of the wrong people! Afteral, it was those same people that destroyed a promising musical variety show on its first night on television ... and she knows it just as well as we do! I think Dolly needs to get rid of a few of her "Yes Men" and seek out the advice of someone that thinks more about her success and less about her money and (I'm gaga for anyone that's famous) fame! Please Dolly, cease the claymation look and go back to being the Dolly we all love! Your fans are not into your earthiness ... we're into the woman that celebrates being a woman on a daily basis ... and has a heart of gold! As for the rest of the cast ... perfection! The scripting between the other members of the choir is superb ... as are their stories that bring the entire story to such a climactic pinnacle of success in the final reel. I will say that I just can't get enough of seeing that part of the movie ... it definitely takes me gloriously "higher" than I've felt in a long time! And Angela Grovey is just that ... a total groove! This is a woman that should be seen a lot more, and a lot more often! As would her sidekick, in the movie, Dequina Moore ... the two make a great team. Oh, and lets not forget Andy Karl ... totally hot in this films last reel. Between him and Jeremy Jordan, the screen was often steaming with their individual sinaliciousness! Memorable Lines ..."God didn't make plastic surgeons so they could starve!" Dolly Parton."Tap it and die!" Angela Grovey."You read the bible to reminisce!" Queen Latifah.My favorite song in the movie is sung by Queen Latifah ... "Fix me." We should all be asking for that miracle. So, keep this movie close to your DVD player ... for when you really need to be lifted up ... higher!

Marc Davis 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.

breezy29 I absolutely loved this movie! My family and I watched this movie three times in one week. The first time, it was just my mum and I and then the other two times were with different family members. While this movie is very cheesy and Keke Palmer over acts and over sings, I can't find much fault in this movie. The story line is great and the singing is impeccable. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton make a great team and make the movie very entertaining and humorous. I am 19 years old and never really understood the fascination with Dolly Parton but she is incredible in this movie. She puts so much heart into every word that she says in the movie not to mention the fact that she is 66 years old and her singing still sounds amazing. Now, Queen Latifah, a woman with so much attitude that you can't help but laugh at some of the words that come out of her mouth. She also has an amazing singing voice. If you are a fan of musicals and know how to have a good laugh, I thoroughly recommend you watch this movie!

Shamontiel Vaughn I've said this many times when reviewing books, music and movies for other sites. Regardless of what my opinion is, make your own. I should've followed my own advice when I heard about this movie. I was dressed and ready to go the weekend the movie released, but I read a bunch of reviews bashing the film talking about how there wasn't enough music or the movie didn't concentrate on KeKe Palmer's character Olivia Hill and Jeremy Jordan's character Randy Garrity. Both opinions were dead wrong. I didn't even bother to see the movie after reading all the feedback, and I wish I would've supported it in theaters. This was a great movie. There were some cons but the pros drowned them out.I love the way Queen Latifah sings (and raps) so anytime she's in a movie singing, I'm going to watch it. It just so happens that Dana Owens is a great actor, too, so she's killing 'em all in areas of entertainment (if I was into makeup, I'd buy her Cover Girl line, too). Although many people (my mother included) were head over heels about "Akeelah and the Bee," I wasn't into the spelling bee movie. I thought "Jump In" was a cute film though. Dolly Parton is cute enough to pinch her face (although she'd probably throw food at me, like she did in this movie, if I did so) and I enjoy hearing her sing. No clue who Jeremy Jordan is, but he was entertaining in this film and was meant for the part. The plot of the film is a small town that is really hurting for cash wants to enter a gospel concert again, regardless of how many times they've lost to other big acts before. When Randy comes into town to stay with Dolly Parton's character G.G. Sparrow, he takes one good look at his childhood friend Olivia and realizes she's all grown up. (Cue Musiq Soulchild's "Girl Next Door.") They like each other. G.G.'s cool with that. Queen Latifah's character Vi Rose Hill is not, but Vi Rose is also dealing with marital issues now that her husband has gone back into the army and trying to make sure her daughter stays focused. The movie made it seem like Vi Rose had an attitude for no reason, but every time she was mad, her concerns seemed valid. There were a couple of cursing lines and the "pretty" comment that didn't sit too well with me and made Olivia's part a little too rebellious. At no point in the movie did I get the impression Vi Rose had a problem with her daughter being pretty. She told her to button her shirt, and that's about it.Spoiler alert: The table scene with Randy and Olivia was a bit much, especially considering I've known a few Olivias when I was a teenager and none of them would be caught dead hiked up on somebody's relative's table. I raised an eyebrow at that one.Other than that, I enjoyed the movie. Dexter Darden's character Walter Hill was educational (had no clue what Asperger Syndrome was like) and interesting. Jesse L. Martin didn't play a large role, but every time I see him I want to sing a Marvin Gaye song. His mannerisms reminds me so much of the singer, and I was completely entertained with the salute-snake routine he and Queen Latifah did in the film. I loved all of the singing moments, from the Usher remakes to Michael Jackson to the gospel songs. The jokes were always funny. The one-liners were good enough to tweet, especially the one about sweeping. "Hell yeah" right back at you, Olivia. The scene with Dolly Parton snapping her fingers after Palmer came out all dressed up cracked me up. Dolly was meant to play this role.As far as Asian men, my gawd, beware! The first guy (Francis Jue's character Mr. Hsu) with the southern accent was fascinating to watch/listen to. He pulled it off. I did not expect those circumstances to end up how they were, but it kept my attention.This was a really good movie. Good enough to buy. And so I will.