Dolly and Latifah Reclaim Glee

Todd Graff'sJoyful Noisetells the story of a Pacashau, Ga., church choir entering a gospel music competition against better-financed groups. It's an underdog fable that neatly parallels Graff's own career since directing his 2003 debut filmCamp, the under-appreciated-yet secretly influential-pop music celebration set at a training school for young musical theater aspirants.

This time, Graff gets to reclaim the talented-amateur premise that predated Disney'sHigh School Musicaland was eventually stolen and coarsened by the ghastly network TV seriesGlee. Gleerepresents the power of bullying promotion (and obnoxiously exploitative political correctness) over the ingenuous exuberance that is Graff's inimitable gift.Joyful Noise'ssuperficial battle-of-the-choirs premise resembles Graff'sBandslamand harkens back to Busby Berkeley's 1939 Mickey-and-Judy musicalBabes in Armsmore than it offers authentic religious testimony. It occupies that second-rate, quasi-gospel,Sister Actmiddle-ground. Yet there's something genuinely devout about Graff's filmmaking. He responds to showmanship, even in evangelical performance.

AlthoughJoyful Noisemerely glosses gospel choir subculture, Graff is able to nearly transform the genre's Big Dish stereotypes-which ought to be the subject of an ideal Tyler Perry movie-by using brash Queen Latifah and the legendary Dolly Parton as guileless Christian amateurs. Playing bossy single parent Vi Rose Hill and benevolent widowed grandmother G.G. Sparrow, Latifah and Dolly look at each other with the candor and confidence of women who know their way around show business. Black Vi Rose and white G.G. are rivals in an idyllically interracial church choir but, actually, they share faith in pop music culture as the bulwark of social harmony and individual security. This ideology comes close to religious fervor, complementing Graff's affection for performance and his singular musical zeal.

To read the full review from Armond White, head toCity Arts.