Song Sung Blue

Song Sung Blue
Starring Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson
Directed by Craig Brewer

I feel like a broken record (get it?) when I talk about musical biopics, because I've done so twice already this year with "A Better Man" and "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere." No other genre either hits it out of the park or fumbles as badly as the musical biopic, as it either leans too heavily on the melodrama of a hero's rise to fame with the usual suspects (drugs, alcohol, promiscuity) or glosses over pretty much everything and focuses on the music with some dramatic parts sprinkled between. Very few times do they hit that sweet center where it perfectly balances music and life, without the generic pitfalls that so many musicians seem to go through. "Song Sung Blue" is one such film - a biopic about a Wisconsin Neil Diamond interpreter band that was a statewide hit even if no one else outside the state knew of them.

Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) is a Vietnam vet, a former alcoholic, and loves to sing under his moniker "Lightning," but mostly covers Don Ho songs. He finally gets tired of it and wants to play music as himself, and meets Claire (Kate Hudson) at a local imitation concert where she imitates Patsy Cline. The two hit it off immediately, and she convinces him to be a Neil Diamond interpreter and she can join him, and he calls them "Lighting and Thunder." They get married and combine their families, and their notoriety skyrockets in the state, leading them to eventually open for Pearl Jam. However, after a shocking accident, it seems like the music will die for good - unless they can find their voices again.

Honestly, I've never heard of "Lightning and Thunder," and thought for the longest time that this was a made-up story, but a few weeks ago I heard the real story and was surprised they would make a feature-length movie with A-list actors about a small local band, but after seeing the movie I can understand why. The movie was an uplifting story of achieving your dreams, but also soul shattering when real life intervenes and threatens to destroy everything you've built, and culminates in a rousing tour-de-force performance about the resilience of the human spirit - all the while feeling earned and not giving us forced emotional responses.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are fantastic actors and singers in their own right, so putting them together for a musical biopic was a no-brainer, but the chemistry between the two is red hot from the jump and only gets more intense from there. You feel their bond and connection immediately, and they perform perfectly against one another and utilizes their strengths to their full potential. Jackman in particular is a well-known musician who dominated in 2017 with "The Greatest Showman," and proves himself a showman again as a Neil Diamond interpreter. Hudson, as well as being an acclaimed actress, released an album in 2024 and has appeared in numerous shows showcasing her singing talent. While many biopics feature non-singers as singers, it's refreshing having two acclaimed singers tackling their roles.

It's more interesting going into "Song Sung Blue" blindly, because I knew about a big event before it happened, but during the film others didn't know and literally gasped in shock at it, which only proves how well the film had us in the grip of its hand. I felt every emotion, every high and low, and every in-between in a personal manner that I haven't felt in a musical biopic in awhile, and showcasing the lives of two ordinary people who followed their dream without the generic hurdles was refreshing and magical.

The Score: A+