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This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable real-life tale from the heartland of American showbusiness; an endearing hit whose feelgood flavour won’t prepare you for how the narrative frequently and brutally turns similar to a precarious carnival attraction. Personally, I found my eyes closed with my jaw agape 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 spouses from Milwaukee who had children from previous relationships that during the 1990s formed a cheesy homage performance to Neil Diamond named Lightning and Thunder; they became an underground sensation in their home state and even performed before Pearl Jam, with the band's guitarist Eddie Vedder amiably accompanied them during their performance for an encore.

But things were far from simple for the pair, and this film broods on how tough it is when misfortune's bolt hits repeatedly.

Adapting a Real Story

It is in fact adapted from an existing documentary of the same title from 2008 by Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a movie that relied extensively on the couple’s family archive of home video. One could argue that the original documentary focuses more intently on the delusional and absurd aspects of Mike and Claire’s life.

Yet this is not the approach this film from director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. The director and stars turn the laugh-at into laugh-with. Jackman delivers a masterful performance portraying a Neil Diamond tribute artist, sounding almost like him, and looking almost like him. He’s perfectly plausible as someone who isn’t supposed to be the major leagues but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to headline a performance.

Notable Acting

Hudson likewise shines, performing her own vocals as Claire, who before she joined Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world had a thriving act performing as Patsy Cline. She is shown belting out Cline numbers, although there is one Cline standard is curiously omitted from this movie.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator named Mark, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown performer known as Sex Machine. The role of Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess is Mike’s daughter Angelina of about the same age – with their developing friendship is another underplayed aspect contributing to the movie's charm.

The Core Narrative

Irony and satire have been meticulously excised from the account of Mike and Claire's heart-stoppingly eventful life stories, and in their place Brewer installs those attributes that the couple themselves would have been aware of: the vulnerability and loneliness of trying to make it in the margins of the music business, or for that matter succeeding in any field and in any business.

It is a tale of relentless perseverance and its bright hopefulness makes it a rich holiday delight.

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