Sometimes you just need a feel-good movie and a good tearjerker, and writer/director Craig Brewer delivers both with Song Sung Blue.
Named for the Neil Diamond song, this drama is not going the way of A Complete Unknown or the Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere route. Instead of a biopic about the American singer-songwriter behind "America" and "Sweet Caroline," Brewer explores the power of Diamond's music through the stranger-than-fiction story of the tribute band known as Lightning and Thunder.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star as this musical married couple, known offstage as Mike and Claire Sardina. They love each other as intensely as they love Diamond's music. Fitting, then, that their breathtaking story is full of the emotional highs and lows of some of his most beloved songs.
What's Song Sung Blue about?
In Milwaukee, Mike Sardina (Jackman) and Claire Stengl (Hudson) are working as celebrity impersonators for state fairs and dive bars. Separately, they perform standards in a dusty variety act, but they dream of making something exciting of their own. For them, one good date spirals into a jam session, a marriage, and a creative partnership that lasts the rest of their lives.
Song Sung Blue charts their story from their meet-cute backstage, through their musical courtship, co-parenting their kids from past relationships, and building a tribute band that makes them feel like rock stars as they bring unique life to Diamond's discography.
The movie focuses mostly on Mike (who prefers to be called Lightning) and Claire, their romantic highs and their tragic lows — including a horrific freak accident that injures her, threatening to derail their band for good. Brewer also incorporates a touching subplot into this script about the developing sisterhood between step-siblings Angela (King Princess) and Rachel (Ella Anderson). Beyond that, Lightning and Thunder's family and story grow to envelope their collaborators and bandmates, allowing for a rich tapestry of characters to bring light and humor to the movie's darkest corners.
Kate Hudson is absolutely extraordinary in Song Sung Blue.
For much of her career, Hudson has been playing some variant of the dazzling girl, in such movies as 200 Cigarettes, Almost Famous, How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, and an array of other rom-coms. Blonde, bouncy, and witty, she's endlessly youthful and radiant, even when facing tragedy or a smirking manchild. In Song Sung Blue, Hudson assumes a more mature role, while maintaining a distinct shimmer.
Claire is not a glamorous party girl or a chic city socialite. She's a middle-aged mother of two who loves Patsy Cline songs and wearing sequins. Here, Hudson is radiant, the way of small-town women who don't have designer clothes and custom jewelry but department stores and thrift store finds, yet they shine all the same. As she sings her heart out, her cheeks are rosy and pronounced because of her wide smile. Her eyes sparkle along with her knitwear. And her Midwestern accent is the cherry on top. Hudson makes Claire not some fantasy of woman, but a real woman. I recognized her. I grew up around women like this, who knew horrific hardship and defiantly chose joy again and again. They were brave and loving and, at times, heartbroken. That is what Song Sung Blue is about.
Props to Brewer; he lets this feel-good film get truly dark, as Claire's accident threatens to smother her inner light. Racked with pain, self-doubt, and anger, Claire becomes unrecognizable to her husband and kids. And through this, we witness a marriage pushed to its breaking point. Sometimes, however, it can be a shared passion that can save us. And for the Sardinas, it was Neil Diamond.
There's an elegance in that, as Diamond's songs can weave bittersweet stories, but what resonates with us is the choruses that are so radiantly joyful that strangers across a bar will join in with "Bah bah bah!" Good times never felt so good, indeed.
Hugh Jackman offers a daring performance in Song Sung Blue.
Where I swiftly fell for Hudson's Claire, Jackman's Lightning was a harder sell. Admittedly, for the first act, I was put off by his bravado. Lightning is a celebrity impersonator with the ego of a rock star and the entitled attitude that often accompanies it. Jackman's portrayal of this wannabe hit me initially as too broad, as if he was back on Broadway playing to the balcony seats.
However, as Song Sung Blue played on, I understood. This wasn't a miscalibrated performance. Where everyone else in the movie is aiming for a softer, more grounded tone, Jackman is knowingly doing too much, because Lightning was a man who demanded to be seen and heard. This theatricality risks playing as insincere. But because Jackman never relaxes this tone, it becomes clear he sees Lightning as dreamer who is every moment being the frontman he dreams to be. This is how he lives the dream.
Once that hit me, Song Sung Blue became a tiny bit sadder. Not so much because this tribute band wouldn't hit Neil Diamond's level of fame. The film celebrates creative victories, even minor ones, with deep sincerity — because the expression and community is the point. I felt sad because I had misjudged Lightning, just as many in the first act did. His is an underdog story, bittersweet but inspirational. Jackman plays it to the rafters so we might understand this man's sheer moxie and determination.
Song Sung Blue's supporting cast is stellar.
Like in Brewer's comedic biopic Dolemite Is My Name, Song Sung Blue is sensationally cast. King Princess brings a touching fragility as Lightning's daughter, while Ella Anderson brings a burning resilience as Thunder's. Michael Imperioli is surprisingly funny as a frustrated Buddy Holly impersonator, but charming as Lightning's bandmate. Jim Belushi brings a working-class sensibility as an unlikely dreamer, helping produce Lightning's show, while Mustafa Shakir and Fisher Stevens bring heart while filling out the Sardinas' rich-in-friends world.
All this makes for a feel-good movie that can be jarringly intense, because the bad times can come out nowhere. (C'est la vie!) But like a great Neil Diamond song, Song Sung Blue will find its way into your heart, where it will linger.
Through thoughtful storytelling, an impeccable cast, and a smartly chosen soundtrack that places the performances of Diamond's songs thematically, Brewer creates a drama that is uplifting, heart-wrenching, and wondrous all at once. Bring tissues. Bring friends. And let Song Sung Blue hit you, rattle you, and leave you smiling.
Song Sung Blue was reviewed out of AFI Fest. The movie opens in theaters on Dec. 25.
