Song Sung Blue: Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson Shine in a Remarkable True Story

Song Sung Blue is much more than a Neil Diamond movie

I was never much of a Neil Diamond fan. Over time, though, I began to understand why millions of people respond to his music: those choruses have a knack for turning a room full of strangers into one enormous singalong.

Song Sung Blue taps into exactly that quality, but wisely keeps Diamond himself on the edges. This is not a Neil Diamond biopic. It is the story of the people singing his songs.

Written and directed by Craig Brewer, the musical drama stars Hugh Jackman as Mike Sardina and Kate Hudson as Claire, two down-on-their-luck performers who join forces as Lightning & Thunder. They fall in love along the way, building a life and an act around Diamond's music.

Jackman and Hudson are fabulous together. Their chemistry gives the film its warmth, while their musical performances make the tribute-band premise far more convincing than it might sound on paper. Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens and Jim Belushi are among the supporting cast.

The response from audiences has been particularly strong. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives Song Sung Blue a 77 per cent Tomatometer score from critics and a remarkable 97 per cent Popcornmeter score from verified audiences.

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77% Tomatometer 97% Popcornmeter

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The extraordinary true story behind Lightning & Thunder

The strangest thing about Song Sung Blue is that its central premise is real.

Mike and Claire Sardina were Milwaukee performers who became locally famous as Lightning & Thunder, appearing around Wisconsin and the Midwest. Their story was documented over several years by filmmaker Greg Kohs, whose acclaimed 2008 documentary Song Sung Blue became the basis for Brewer's feature film.

The couple's career took an extraordinary turn when Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder became a supporter. Lightning & Thunder appeared with Pearl Jam at Milwaukee's Summerfest in the 1990s, while Vedder later played an important role in helping Kohs secure the music rights needed for his documentary.

Brewer has not simply recreated the documentary scene by scene. Events and timelines have been shaped for the feature film, but the heart of the story - two working-class performers finding love, purpose and resilience through music - comes from Mike and Claire's lives.

There are parts of that real story best discovered while watching the film. Suffice to say, Song Sung Blue travels considerably further emotionally than its cheerful tribute-band premise suggests.

Even Neil Diamond was won over

There is another reason the musical side works: Jackman and Hudson do the singing themselves. Rather than reducing Lightning & Thunder to a novelty act, their performances help explain why these songs became so important to the Sardinas and their audiences.

Neil Diamond himself also connected with the project. Jackman later visited Diamond at his home and ended up singing karaoke with the man whose music sits at the centre of the film - a suitably surreal endorsement for an actor playing a Neil Diamond tribute performer.

At 132 minutes, Song Sung Blue has room for romance, family drama, setbacks and plenty of music. Yet its greatest strength is that you can arrive without caring much about Neil Diamond and still be drawn into the Sardinas' story.

You may even leave understanding why, when the right Diamond chorus begins, everybody seems to know exactly when to sing.