🔗 Share this article

Here is a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable real-life tale emerging from the American entertainment world; an endearing hit with its uplifting tone won’t prepare you for the way the plot repeatedly and savagely twists like an unsafe fairground ride. I actually had my eyes closed and mouth open during several crucial moments, and was grabbing the chair ahead with both fists.

The Stranger-Than-Fiction Story

The couple Mike and Claire Sardina, superbly portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple with kids from prior unions who in the 90s created a kitschy Neil Diamond tribute act called Lightning and Thunder; they grew into a cult hit in their home state and even performed before Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them on stage 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.

Adapting a Real Story

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 film that was extensively on the couple’s family archive of homemade recordings. One could argue that the documentary puts more emphasis on the unrealistic and ridiculous elements of Mike and Claire’s life.

Yet this is not the approach taken by this movie from writer-director Craig Brewer reimagines their tale. He, Jackman and Hudson turn the laugh-at into shared amusement. Jackman absolutely crushes it 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, performing her own vocals in the role of Claire, who before she joined Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world enjoyed a successful career performing as Patsy Cline. The film depicts her belting out Cline numbers, even though one particular iconic Cline tune is curiously omitted from this movie.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator called Mark, while Mustafa Shakir appears as a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. Ella Anderson plays Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess is Mike's daughter Angelina who is around the same age – and their burgeoning friendship serving as another subtle element of the film’s likability.

The Heart of the Story

Sarcasm and mockery have been surgically removed from Mike and Claire’s heart-stoppingly eventful life stories, and in their place Brewer substitutes those qualities which the pair personally would have been aware of: the vulnerability and loneliness of trying to make it on the fringes of the music business, or indeed succeeding in any field and within any profession.

This is a never-say-die story and its cheerful optimism renders it a calorific Christmas treat.

The film "Song Sung Blue" releases December 25th in the US and 1 January in Australia and the UK.