Both Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire (Kate Hudson), the husband-and-wife duo behind the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning and Thunder, say that “nostalgia pays” at different points in Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue. Consider that a statement of intent on the part of the filmmakers. Based on a true story, and adapted from the 2008 documentary of the same name, the film is nothing if not deeply appreciative of Diamond’s music.
To its credit, Song Sung Blue isn’t shy about spotlighting some of Diamond’s lesser-known songs, as exemplified by a running joke about “Soolaimon,” which Mike insists should remain the opening song of Lightning and Thunder’s act. But just as Mike goes from refusing to play Diamond’s biggest hit, the karaoke standard “Sweet Caroline,” to giving into audiences’ demand for it, so, too, does Brewer’s film fall victim to the familiar beats of the biopic genre. And it remains frustratingly hell-bent on tugging at the audience’s heartstrings rather than exploring the more compelling personality traits of its main characters.
At the film’s start, Mike has freshly earned his 20-year sobriety chip and is fighting an untreated heart condition. No less of a hot mess, Claire is a scatterbrain taking medications for anxiety and depression. Song Sung Blue is most interesting for its glimpse into how these idiosyncratic, deeply passionate singers fight to pay their bills and meet the demands of their children. Yet Mike and Claire’s struggles to balance their artistic aspirations with real-world concerns are glossed over, as the film is hung up on the highs and lows of their early success.
This leads to plenty of electric musical performances, in which Jackman and Hudson get to show off their impressive vocal chops. But in giving short shrift to this earlier period of time, the film breezes past Mike and Claire’s falling in love, barely giving us a sense of the chemistry that emerged between them and which they channeled into their stage performances.
While Hudson is particularly good at capturing Claire’s mental health issues later in Song Sung Blue, Brewer’s script gives her little nuance to work with, and the film is more interested in milking the couple’s personal anguish for tears rather than exploring it in any depth. Song Sung Blue is content to pendulum-swing from triumph to tragedy and back again with all the self-control of a drunk driver. It’s certainly true that most of the wonderful and horrible events depicted on screen did happen to Mike and Claire, but the filmmakers’ approach to them causes them to land like the worst of Diamond’s songs: cloying and desperate to arouse our emotions.
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Likening the film to a “drunk driver” is just bad taste man. I disagree with almost everything you’ve written. This movie is a moving and shining example of how music changes people’s lives. You write like a real Grinch, dude.