Song Sung Blue Review: Treacly Neil Diamond Musical Formulaic in the Worst Ways
A poverty porn heavy script leaves stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson indulging in a lot of overacting.
This post is free but it’s worth it to become a paid member of The Film Maven community! Paid subscribers are the backbone of The Film Maven who support independent journalism, as well as female- and disabled-created content. Paid Film Mavens get access to two-three exclusive articles a week including access to my series The Trade and Popcorn Disabilities, as well as the ability to chat with me on The Film Maven's Discord server.
Don't want to commit to a subscription? Leave a tip to show you enjoy what you're reading.
Enjoy what you’re reading? Share it with friends. Help us get to 1,000 subscribers by the end of 2025 and I’ll do a full written and video review of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis.
Read more about the history of disability in film by pre-ordering my upcoming book, Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies. I not only expand on what you’re reading here, but examine the stereotypes, tropes, and the good, bad (and really ugly) of disabled movies. Preorder the book by clicking this link! Send me proof of your preorder and I’ll give you a paid subscription to The Film Maven for one year!
The worm has turned on music biopics. Sure, you can still see the standard "making of" the musician story. Hell, there's one playing in theaters now about Bruce Springsteen. But as some of the best artists catalogs have already been claimed, creatives are trying to get inventive. Maybe don't tell a biopic about a specific artist, but how said artist's music inspired others. It's still a good enough reason to jam in about a million songs. And, wow, does it feel like there's a lot of Neil Diamond songs found in Song Sung Blue. Or, at least the same five songs.
Based on the documentary by Greg Kohs, this is the story of 1990s Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning and Thunder. Lightning is Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), a Vietnam vet with a bad heart, and Claire (Kate Hudson) is his wife. The pair meet during a state fair Legends series wherein each is performing as artists, her as Pasty Cline and him as Don Ho. The two fall in love while developing Lightning's Diamond tribute, with the pair find success, until tragedy strikes.
Song Sung Blue's first hour is an earnestly sentimental affair, unsurprising as it lays out the early days (months? years? time isn't defined) of Mike and Claire's relationship. We meet Mike celebrating his sober birthday, his twentieth, which he celebrates every year by singing the title song. And we get at least three sober birthday scenes in this movie. He's drawn to Claire not just because she looks like Kate Hudson, but because she appears to understand him. Their first date sees her gush over how amazing it is to watch him perform, and how she, too, dreams of a singing career. Claire suggests Mike do Neil Diamond, based on his vague resemblance, becoming the Michelle in this Post-It routine.
Craig Brewer's script situates these two as just lovable Wisconsin cheeseheads who find success accidentally. They perform a haphazard show that ends with punches thrown at a biker bar, and next they're opening for Pearl Jam because Tony Bennett is opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Seriously, that's the justification.) The characters don't have personal dreams of fame, and it's not even clear if either has tried professional music on their own. Jackman's Mike is the stalwart professional, decrying about how they have to make the act worthy of Neil while Hudson, for the first half, is just happy to sing backup.
But there's that tragedy that slams into the halfway point with all the impact of a car driving on one's front lawn. Tragedy strikes again and again and again in this movie, so much so that it's worth wondering if the Sardinas are cursed, offended someone in a past life, or just have a lot of lead in their house. When Claire is hit by a car and loses a leg the movie takes a sharp torn into poverty/inspiration porn to cringe-inducing effect. If disability in the movies weren't already presented as something to mourn, the script says it's definitely worth having a eulogy over.
Claire isn't just a bitter disabled person. She's a drugged out, stumbling mess singing Patsy Cline songs in a Percodan-induced haze on her front lawn. Leaving Mike to stoically deal with bills, their daughter's impending teen pregnancy (that gets solved with a literal smile after nine months), and that bad heart that just keeps stopping at annoying times.
Because the movie is "based on a true love story," the script hopes presumed authenticity will get around things like stereotypical disabled representation. But the problem lies in how long and overwrought it becomes. Hudson goes from "aw, shucks" housewife to a woman screaming at her husband about her pain. Pundits have called Hudson an Oscars frontrunner this year and I can only surmise it's because she's doing a standard "stunning and brave" portrayal of both a disabled person and a woman over a size 3 who isn't wearing makeup.
And what's odd is for a movie over two hours, certain things are solved either far too quickly, off-screen, or never dealt with at all. In the immediate aftermath of Claire's accident Mike has a heartattack, forcing his stepdaughter to defibrillate him...which is never discussed again. The teen pregnancy plot line resolves so quickly you wonder why anyone would call adoption a hard decision. And at one point Claire talks about her mother in the past tense leaving you shocked when the old woman comes tottering in at one point. That's to say nothing about the film's big finale which I'm gonna need Brewer to present actual evidence as to whether it happened or not.
Don't worry, none of this gets in the way of the Neil Diamond music. Even when Mike is deep in his cups, he's still singing quiet ballads at a Thai karaoke joint. Jackman certainly tries to convey some warmth and charm in a movie so mired in the saccharine. He's a kindhearted father figure to Claire's teenage daughter (Ella Anderson) and comes alive during the performance scenes. He and Hudson don't necessarily have a sexual or romantic chemistry so much as they make great musical partners, finding the play and interrelationship during dance sequences or little bits of musical business. But the desire to stick to just a handful of Diamond songs means you'll be sick of hearing them quickly, particularly the hymn-esque "Suleiman."
Song Sung Blue is essentially white trash Hustle & Flow, removing the rap for Neil Diamond. Hudson and Jackman are fine, but the movie's overwrought and, at times, irritating portrayal of disability and poverty gets old fast leaving you with the songs, which also become stagnant. Just go drunkenly sing "Sweet Caroline" in a bar for two hours.
Grade: D-
Song Sung Blue hits theaters Christmas Day.
The Film Maven is seeking sponsors to help us do more! If you're interested in sponsoring independent journalism get in touch.
Let’s work together! If you have editorial opportunities and would like to collaborate with me on an entertainment or disability project, drop me a message.
