The Song Sung Blue Review: An Musical Homage Act Receives a Heartwarming Boost from Hollywood Thanks to Jackman and Hudson

This film presents a startlingly strange, undeniably entertaining true-life story emerging from American showbusiness; an endearing hit with its uplifting tone won’t prepare you for how the narrative repeatedly and savagely twists like an unsafe fairground ride. I actually had my eyes closed and mouth open at certain key points, and was grabbing the chair ahead with both fists.

The Stranger-Than-Fiction Story

Mike and Claire Sardina, terrifically played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple with kids from previous relationships that during the 1990s created a cheesy Neil Diamond tribute act named Lightning and Thunder; they grew into a cult hit in their home state and even opened for Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them on stage for an encore.

But things were far from simple for the pair, and this movie contemplates how tough it is when the lightning of ill fortune strikes more than once.

From Documentary to Drama

The film is actually based on an existing documentary bearing the identical name created in 2008 by Greg Kohs concerning this surreal reality, a movie that relied heavily reliant on the couple’s family archive of home video. It’s fair to say that the documentary focuses more intently on the delusional and absurd aspects in the lives of Mike and Claire.

Yet this is not the approach this film from writer-director Craig Brewer reimagines their tale. He, Jackman and Hudson transform the mockery into laugh-with. Jackman delivers a masterful performance as a Neil Diamond impersonator, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and appearing strikingly alike. He’s perfectly plausible as someone who isn’t supposed to be in the big league but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to headline a performance.

Notable Acting

Hudson likewise shines, performing her own vocals as Claire, who before she joined Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world had a thriving act as Patsy Cline. She is shown belting out Cline numbers, even though one particular Cline standard is curiously omitted from this movie.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator named Mark, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown performer known as Sex Machine. Ella Anderson plays Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess portrays Mike’s daughter Angelina of about the same age – with their developing friendship is another underplayed aspect of the film’s likability.

The Core Narrative

Irony and satire have been meticulously excised from the account of Mike and Claire's heart-stoppingly eventful life experiences, and in their place Brewer installs those attributes which the pair personally would have recognized: the vulnerability and loneliness of trying to make it in the margins of the music industry, or for that matter making it anywhere and in any business.

This is a tale of relentless perseverance and its cheerful optimism renders it a calorific Christmas treat.

The film "Song Sung Blue" releases on 25 December in the United States and 1 January in Australia and the UK.