Song Sung Blue review: Kate Hudson shines in moving biopic
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson have both shown off their vocal talents in musicals in the past – Les Misérables, The Greatest Showman and Nine, to name a few – and now they’ve come together for a different type of music-based project – Song Sung Blue, a biographical drama about tribute singers Claire and Mike Sardina.
Based on the 2008 documentary of the same name, Craig Brewer‘s film follows Mike (Jackman) and Claire (Hudson) after they meet at an impersonator show in 1987 and decide to team up and become a Neil Diamond tribute band named Lightning and Thunder and a romantic couple. The film charts the rise in their careers in the Milwaukee area during the ’80s and ’90s, and the personal hardships they suffered over the years.
Song Sung Blue tells a remarkable story that’s hard to believe, but Jackman assured us during his introduction that it was all true. You just can’t believe that one couple suffered so much tragedy! It’s best to go into this film not knowing anything because what happens is pretty shocking. I even gasped a couple of times! The film runs a little long at 132 minutes, but it needs to be that long, really, because there’s so much to pack in.
Having seen Jackman perform live, I knew he’d be a safe pair of hands as Mike. They are both captivating and charismatic performers, and those sequences are the highlights of the film. As wonderful as Jackman is, Song Sung Blue is Hudson’s film. Her role is harder as she has an accent (Jackman doesn’t really attempt one) and a physical disability, plus it requires her to show off a darker, more emotional side that we don’t get to see often. Claire is so upbeat and chipper in the beginning – more aligned with how we see Hudson – but she struggles with her mental health in the years they’re not performing.
The film isn’t a musical as they don’t burst into song out of the blue, but there are a lot of rehearsal and performance scenes. I didn’t know any Neil Diamond songs beyond Sweet Caroline but that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the movie, although perhaps fans of his music will get more out of it than me.
Song Sung Blue is a somewhat conventional crowd-pleaser that shines a spotlight on the extraordinary lives of two seemingly normal people. You might want to bring tissues.
In cinemas from New Year’s Day