The Song Sung Blue Film Review: An Musical Homage Story Receives a Heartwarming Boost from Hollywood Courtesy of Jackman and Hudson

This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable true-life story emerging from American showbusiness; an endearing hit whose feelgood flavour does little to warn you for how the plot repeatedly and savagely twists similar to a precarious carnival attraction. I actually had my eyes closed and mouth open during several crucial moments, and was grabbing the chair ahead tightly with my hands.

The Unbelievable True Tale

The couple Mike and Claire Sardina, superbly portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were spouses from Milwaukee who had children from prior unions that during the 1990s created a kitschy homage performance to Neil Diamond called Lightning and Thunder; they became a cult hit within their state and even performed before Pearl Jam, with the band's guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them during their performance for an encore.

But things were not easy for them, and this movie contemplates how tough it is when the lightning of ill fortune hits repeatedly.

From Documentary to Drama

It is in fact adapted from a prior documentary film of the same title from 2008 from filmmaker Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a film that was heavily reliant on the couple’s family archive of homemade recordings. It’s fair to say that the original documentary puts more emphasis on the unrealistic and ridiculous elements in the lives of Mike and Claire.

But that’s not how this film from writer-director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. The director and stars transform the mockery into laugh-with. Jackman absolutely crushes it portraying a Neil Diamond tribute artist, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and looking almost like him. He’s perfectly plausible as an individual not destined for in the big league but who undoubtedly possesses the talent (and the vocal cords) to headline a performance.

Notable Acting

Hudson is also excellent, performing her own vocals in the role of Claire, who prior to partnering with Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world enjoyed a successful career as Patsy Cline. The film depicts her powerfully singing Cline's songs, although there is one Cline standard that this film interestingly misses out.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator named Mark, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. Ella Anderson plays Claire’s teen daughter Rachel, and King Princess portrays Mike's daughter Angelina who is around the same age – and their burgeoning friendship serving as another subtle element contributing to the movie's charm.

The Core Narrative

Irony and satire have been surgically removed from Mike and Claire’s heart-stoppingly eventful life experiences, and in their place Brewer installs those qualities that the couple themselves would have been aware of: the fragility and isolation of trying to make it in the margins of the music industry, or indeed succeeding in any field and in any business.

It is a tale of relentless perseverance and its bright hopefulness renders it a calorific Christmas treat.

Song Sung Blue releases December 25th in the United States and 1 January in Australia and the United Kingdom.