Review: 'Song Sung Blue,' Emphasis on the 'Blue'

I was supposed to review Song Sung Blue when it was released around Christmas, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I also considered, almost daily, paying the $20 rental fee to watch it digitally. I’m glad I didn’t, because Song Sung Blue is now available the way it’s meant to be watched: for free, on Peacock, in the middle of the Winter Olympics.

The thing about Song Sung Blue is that it’s not a particularly good movie. It’s not even the crowd-pleaser I’d hoped it would be. Putting aside whatever issues one of the real-life counterparts had with the film, the whole thing is kind of a bummer. There are also a lot of Neil Diamond songs that aren’t “Sweet Caroline,” and nobody should have to sit through that.

Inspired by the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina (Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, respectively), Song Sung Blue recounts the rise and fall of the musical duo “Lightning and Thunder,” a Neil Diamond tribute act so popular they once opened for Pearl Jam (which is honestly the high point of the movie, although you can just watch the original instead). Alas, the story is one part love story and three parts tragedy, which kind of robs the would-be feel-good movie of the “feel good” portion.

Here’s the story in a nutshell (with spoilers): Mike, a recovering alcoholic who sang a Neil Diamond song every year at AA meetings on his sobriety anniversary, used to perform in various tribute acts. He met Claire while she was performing as Patsy Cline. They fell in love, got married at the state fair, and began performing together as a Neil Diamond tribute act. Their respective kids got along famously, and they formed a fairly happy blended family.

Putting the band together required a great deal of effort, but just as they began to take off — opening for Pearl Jam, for instance — Claire was struck by a car while gardening in her front yard and lost a leg. There followed a long stretch in which Claire was too depressed to perform, the family struggled financially, and then Claire was almost hit by another car in her front yard, which somehow inspired her to rejoin the duo.

They eventually booked a sold-out show in Madison opposite an actual Neil Diamond concert, hoping to capitalize on the overflow. Mike was also supposed to meet Neil Diamond for the first time in his life after the show. Before it began, however, Mike — who had a faulty ticker — suffered one of his many heart episodes, fell, and hit his head. He decided to go on stage anyway, and the two put on the show of their lives.

Afterward, while waiting to meet Diamond at a local frozen custard place, Mike quietly passed away in the car (in reality, Mike hit his head a week earlier, eventually slipped into a coma, and died in the hospital after refusing to seek treatment the week before). Claire then performed a rousing musical number at his funeral. The end.

I should probably also mention that they find a way to squeeze in about a dozen Neil Diamond numbers.

Kate Hudson received an Oscar nomination for her performance in Song Sung Blue, and honestly, she probably deserves it. She’s very good in a role practically engineered for awards voters: a real-life figure, socioeconomically poor, who overcomes leg amputation and soldiers on after her husband’s death. Even setting that aside, Hudson can act, and it’s nice to see her put those talents to use again (though I’d stop short of calling it “good use”). Hugh Jackman is, well, Hugh Jackman, which is to say: He’s too Hugh Jackman-y to convincingly pull off a Neil Diamond novelty act.

And look: If you’re a Neil Diamond superfan — first of all, why? — you’ll probably get a kick out of Song Sung Blue. But outside of that, I can’t fathom why anyone would want to spend two hours and 15 minutes following the mostly downward trajectory of a tribute act that feels better suited to a five-minute local-interest segment on the local evening news. Bless Jackman and Hudson for bringing these figures to Hollywood life, but maybe next time, do a movie about a Pearl Jam tribute act instead, because, even if the movie blows, at least the songs will be listenable.