Movie Review: 'Song Sung Blue' Hits the Right Notes
The true tale of a Neil Diamond impersonator and his wife is a love story between a man, a woman, and the work of a pop music legend
Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) writes and directs a bighearted big-screen rendition of the true story behind Lightning and Thunder, the Milwaukee husband and wife duo who were a sensation as a Neil Diamond tribute act.
(Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman in Song Sung Blue. Focus Features)
Lightning, a.k.a. Mike (Hugh Jackman), wants to break out of his niche on the music impersonator scene, but he doesn’t dare touch the music of his idol, Neil Diamond — at least, not until he hears how much a fellow impersonator made doing an Elvis tribute act on a cruise. Around the same time, his personal life takes a turn for the better when he meets Claire (Kate Hudson), Patsy Cline impersonator. Together, the two form an act billed as Lightning and Thunder, built in part around the musical persona Mike tries to promote, but built very much on Neil Diamond’s catalogue — even when Tom (Jim Belushi), a promoter, books them to appear in a biker bar. (Fisticuffs explode: Mike is a sweet guy, but let those beware who would profane Diamond’s name or speak dismissively of his art.) Life intrudes on art (kids, medical emergencies, money worries) but this effervescent film lifts Mike and his (blended) family into local fame and modest fortune.
(Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman in Song Sung Blue. Focus Features)
It will lift holiday audiences, too. Jackman proved his musical chops with “Les Miersables” and “The Greatest Showman,” and now he shows himself a powerhouse performer of pop as well. Hudson only briefly appears in her Patsy Cline gig, but she’s magnificent — and no less so as the other half of Mike’s Neil Diamond shows. Hudson is also unafraid to show what a real woman in her mid-40s looks like, and both the movie and the love story at his core are better for it: There’s true beauty in authenticity. There’s also plenty of humor, as well as relatable domesticity, mixed into Brewer’s sometimes-soaring film. This Christmas Day opener is a gift to cineplexes, movie lovers, and Neil Diamond fans alike.
“Song Sung Blue” opens Christmas Day.