🔗 Share this article

This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable real-life tale emerging from American showbusiness; a lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour won’t prepare you for how the plot frequently and brutally turns similar to a precarious carnival attraction. I actually had myself shutting my eyes with my jaw agape at certain key points, and was grabbing the seat in front of me tightly with my hands.

The Unbelievable True Tale

The couple Mike and Claire Sardina, terrifically played by Jackman and Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple who had children from prior unions who in the 90s created a kitschy Neil Diamond tribute act called Lightning and Thunder; they grew into an underground sensation within their state and even opened for Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them during their performance for an encore.

However, life was not easy for them, and this movie contemplates the difficulty that arises when the lightning of ill fortune strikes more than once.

From Documentary to Drama

It is in fact adapted from 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 heavily reliant on the family's personal collection of home video. It’s fair to say that the documentary puts more emphasis on the delusional and absurd aspects in the lives of Mike and Claire.

But that’s not how taken by this movie from director Craig Brewer reimagines their tale. The director and stars transform the mockery into shared amusement. Jackman delivers a masterful performance as a Neil Diamond impersonator, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and looking almost like him. He’s perfectly plausible as someone who isn’t supposed to be the major leagues but who undoubtedly possesses the talent (and the vocal cords) to carry a show.

Standout Performances

Hudson likewise shines, doing her own singing as Claire, who before she joined Mike in the world of Neil Diamond homage had a thriving act performing as Patsy Cline. The film depicts her belting out Cline numbers, even though one particular Cline standard that this film interestingly misses out.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly tribute artist named Mark, while Mustafa Shakir appears as a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. The role of Claire’s teen daughter Rachel, and King Princess is Mike's daughter Angelina who is around the same age – and their burgeoning friendship is another underplayed aspect of the film’s likability.

The Core Narrative

Sarcasm and mockery have been surgically removed from Mike and Claire’s dramatically packed life experiences, and replacing them Brewer substitutes those qualities that the couple themselves would have been aware of: the vulnerability and loneliness involved in striving for success in the margins of the music business, or for that matter making it anywhere and in any business.

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 US and 1 January in Australia and the United Kingdom.