A film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net on Dec 18, 2025.
If you enjoy the music of Neil Diamond, then Song Sung
Blue will take you to places that not even Brother Love’s Traveling
Salvation Show can. But if the thought of hearing Sweet Caroline one more
time sounds like an act of torture, there’s nothing I can say about this
based-on-a-true-story drama that will soften the blow. It’s not about
Neil Diamond, but his music imbues the film with its energy and his songs are
omnipresent. He never makes an appearance, but his spirit hovers over the
entire production. Song Sung Blue is the (mostly) true story of
Diamond’s most devoted impersonation band, Lightning & Thunder, and when
magic happens on screen, it’s the result of the chemistry between Hugh Jackman,
Kate Hudson, and Diamond’s iconic music.
The first half of Song Sung Blue is frothy and
lighthearted, charting the romance between the two musicians - Mike Sardina,
a.k.a. Lightning (Jackman), and Claire Sardina, a.k.a. Thunder (Hudson) - which began when they first met in 1989. As their act evolves, he
morphs into Neil Diamond while she does Patsy Cline. Director Craig Brewer
gives us full renditions of a wide variety of Diamond’s greatest hits (with the
actual singer’s voice making a cameo - albeit for a Christmas song, not one of
his own melodies) as a backdrop to Mike and Claire’s deepening relationship.
They eventually marry and edge toward the cusp of stardom - opening for Pearl Jam
and singing along with Eddie Vedder on Forever in Blue Jeans - when tragedy
strikes.
The film’s second half is more grounded. The rags-to-riches
arc peters out. There are physical challenges (she’s involved in a crippling
accident, he has a heart condition) and they must cope with the public’s fickle
fascination with tribute acts. And, with most of Diamond’s best-known songs
having been showcased during the first hour, the soundtrack becomes less
pop-heavy - at least until the rousing finale. Ultimately, this structure allows
Brewer to deliver a full serving of Diamond nostalgia without strip-mining the
singer’s life story. It’s a far better approach and makes Song Sung Blue
more accessible than either A Complete Unknown or Deliver Me from Nowhere, two recent examples of biographical overreach.
Jackman's interpretation of Lightning is solid. He’s got the
singing chops and does a convincing faux-Diamond, though he has more vocal
freedom since he’s not impersonating the singer directly but rather performing
a second-generation version. But Jackman, for all his star power, can’t quite
match Kate Hudson when it comes to lumens. This is the most magical she has
been since Almost Famous, another movie about the power of music.
There’s a kinship between Penny Lane and Claire - they’re soul mates of a sort - one
still young and unformed, the other older and more weathered. The thing that
surprised me most about Hudson’s performance was how good her voice is.
Brewer’s source material for the screenplay is a
little-known 2008 documentary by Philadelphia-based filmmaker Greg Kohs, who
followed the duo on and off for about eight years, assembling footage. Kohs’ Song
Sung Blue did well on the film-festival circuit (it debuted at Slamdance)
but never gained much traction beyond that, in part because, despite their
renown in the Milwaukee area, Lightning & Thunder’s appeal never extended
much beyond regional interest. Still, when Brewer watched it, he recognized
the potential.
As with most fictionalized versions of real events, Song Sung Blue doesn’t shy away from making changes to the historical record in the service of better drama and/or showmanship. The big moments in the movie are mostly reflective of real-life events, except the ending, which invents plenty of details, but the time frame is drastically condensed. Mike and Claire were connected for 17 years, but the movie shortens that to something like three or four years. (Their kids hardly seem to age.) Such quibbles, however, only matter to those who forget the mantra for movies like this: Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. And Song Sung Blue is a good story - heartwarming, uplifting, tear-jerking, and chock full of a beautiful noise. (Berardinelli's rating: 3 stars out of 4)
Labels: biography, documentary, drama, history, musical, tragedy,
IMDb 72/100
MetaCritic (critics=61, viewers=68)
RottenTomatoes (critics=77, viewers=97)
Netflix
Blu-ray
Jame Berardinelli's review (3 stars out of 4)
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