🔗 Share this article

This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable true-life story emerging from American showbusiness; a lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour does little to warn you for how the plot repeatedly and savagely twists like an unsafe fairground ride. I actually had my eyes closed with my jaw agape during several crucial moments, while clutching the chair ahead tightly with my hands.

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 formed a kitschy Neil Diamond tribute act named Lightning and Thunder; they grew into a cult hit within their state and even opened for Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them during their performance for an additional song.

However, life was far from simple for the pair, and this movie contemplates the difficulty that arises when the lightning of ill fortune hits repeatedly.

Adapting a Real Story

The film is actually based on a prior documentary film bearing the identical name created in 2008 from filmmaker Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a movie that relied extensively on the couple’s family archive of home video. It’s fair to say that the original documentary focuses more intently 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. He, Jackman and Hudson turn the laugh-at into shared amusement. Jackman absolutely crushes it portraying a Neil Diamond tribute artist, sounding almost like him, and appearing strikingly alike. He’s perfectly plausible as an individual not destined for the major leagues but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to carry a show.

Notable Acting

Hudson likewise shines, performing her own vocals in the role of Claire, who before she joined Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world had a thriving act as Patsy Cline. She is shown powerfully singing Cline's songs, although there is one iconic Cline tune is curiously omitted from this movie.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator called Mark, while Mustafa Shakir appears as a James Brown performer known as Sex Machine. Ella Anderson plays Claire’s teen daughter Rachel, and King Princess is Mike’s daughter Angelina who is around the same age – with their developing friendship serving as another subtle element of the film’s likability.

The Heart of the Story

Irony and satire have been meticulously excised from Mike and Claire’s dramatically packed life experiences, and in their place Brewer substitutes those attributes that the couple themselves would have been aware of: the vulnerability and loneliness involved in striving for success on the fringes of the music industry, or for that matter succeeding in any field and within any profession.

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

The film "Song Sung Blue" is out December 25th in the United States and January 1st in Australia and the UK.