The latest in our series of writers sticking up for maligned films is a defence of the Dolly Parton and
Queen Latifah musical comedy
Joyful Noise lives with an undignified 32% splat on Rotten Tomatoes. This story of a small gospel choir in Georgia did not charm critics, who found it saccharine, too long and baggy, its handling of social issues – recession and Asperger syndrome, mostly – unforgivably clumsy. None of those criticisms are untrue, technically. It is a portrait of small-town America rendered in crayon, its colours crude and simple. But it is so full of both heart and genuinely unhinged decisions that I return to it again and again for a feelgood fix.
Related: Hear me out: why 2014’s Robocop isn’t a bad movie