Song Sung Blue movie review: Hugh Jackman charms, but Kate Hudson truly soars

A chance but fortuitous encounter where sparks fly has them settle on setting up a Neil Diamond tribute band. They take on names ‘Lightning’ (Mike) and ‘Thunder’ (Claire) in this band, with a bunch of loyal friends who have seen Mike put his heart and soul into many off-and-on gigs over the years, holding up the rear (notably Imperioli as a Buddy Holly cover singer).

The sincerity and delight of Lightning and Thunder, not to say their singing talents (with Jackman and Hudson doing their own vocals), make them almost instant stars in their native Milwaukee. An opening act they get to play for Pearl Jam is the highlight, before tragedy and heart break strike.

Director Brewer (who has also co-adapted with Greg Kohs the latter’s documentary on Mike and Claire for the screen) does the music parts better than when song goes out of its stars’ lives. The latter passages seem too timid about digging deeper into Mike and Claire’s stoicism and pain — though not due to any lapse on Hudson and Jackman’s parts.

The two charismatic actors shine, whether it is in their characters marvelling at their own good fortune or mourning what can be so easily lost. They complete each other so well that you don’t feel the absence of their back stories, or the tension of two “artistic” personalities.

Between them, they have three children from their former spouses (played by Anderson, Hensley, Princess). And Brewer finds a way to make them an intrinsic part of this roller-coaster journey without the children (including two who are teens) feeling like superfluous baggage.

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Jackman is one of our more under appreciated actors, having carried on his shoulders a range of films, from those dealing with regret, to magic and super powers. But it is Hudson who is an absolute revelation, in one of her best performances since Almost Famous, which she did early on in her career.

Like Song Sung Blue, that too was based on lives lived in the reflected glory of a music star. But here, Hudson is more than a fan girl; she is a mother, a woman, fluffy around the face, wrinkled around the eyes, her make-up that of a woman with a lot on her hands, her craft a last shot at her dreams, her dreams that she knows will age like her, but her life that she realises is the sum of all things — songs and blues.

Song Sung Blue movie director: Craig Brewer
Song Sung Blue movie cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Kella Anderson, Hudson Hensley, King Princess, Michael Imperioli
Song Sung Blue movie rating: 3.5 stars