Song Sung Blue, about a pair of Neil Diamond tribute singers, conveniently hides behind its “true story” credentials. Enough of its improbable events are true that the film feels licensed to gussy up this story of Wisconsin big dreamers in whichever ways it likes.
But the problem with this brand of Hollywood tale is that, by excessively romanticising their subjects, they diminish their humanity. Greg Kohs’s 2008 documentary of the same name, which provided writer-director Craig Brewer with his inspiration, had a curiosity about how Mike and Claire Sardina responded to misfortune and to the slow realisation that their dreams were being wrested from them. But, in Brewer’s hands, their interior worlds are reduced to two modes of existence: triumph and tragedy.
The couple – Hugh Jackman plays Mike and Kate Hudson plays Claire – meets at a showcase for impersonators. She’s Patsy Cline. He doesn’t want to be Neil Diamond. He holds him in too high a regard, so Claire offers him an alternative: become a “Neil Diamond interpreter”, a cover artist with her backing up on keyboards. He asks her to be the “Thunder” to his stage name, “Lightning”.
There’s a whirlwind to the romance and to the creative collaboration, as they end up wedded and on stage with Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith), opening for his band Pearl Jam. Jackman and Hudson are well cast here. They’re plugged into a high-octane wholesomeness, all apple pie smiles and her bouncy Wisconsin accent. They have strong voices, though they never really carry the giddiness of love. There’s certainly nothing transformative about how Diamond’s music is presented here, since cinematographer Amy Vincent’s camera seems mostly concerned with making sure everyone is in shot and visible.
While Mike and Claire nestle into harmony, their daughters Rachel (Ella Anderson) and Angelina (musician King Princess), both from previous marriages, sit in the backyard and conduct some expository trauma dumping: Mike was a Vietnam War “tunnel rat”, who was forced to crawl over corpses and returned home an alcoholic (now 20 years sober), while Claire is on medication for depression. When a car slams into their home, Claire’s leg is partially amputated. And her will crumbles.
Here, Song Sung Blues takes the route so many stories about disability take, in which a high-profile, able-bodied Hollywood actor performs suffering and, in return, receives awards consideration (Hudson has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for the role).
The pain medication turns Claire jealous and argumentative. But, tellingly, the camera leaves with Mike after their big confrontation and follows him into the bathroom. When we return to Claire, it watches nervously from the other side of the house as she weeps, as if the film were too afraid to sit with her and see her experiences as relatable rather than worthy only of outside sympathy.
Her recovery then comes in the blink of an eye, framed in a single confessional that bleeds into a chintzy montage – one that also conveniently closes the book on another, once-discussed major event in the family’s lives. Mike’s heart condition, that he keeps to himself, is given a conclusion no one will believe. And that’s no matter how many times Song Sung Blue insists that it was “based on a true story”.
Dir: Craig Brewer. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, Mustafa Shakir, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi. 132 minutes.
‘Song Sung Blue’ is in cinemas from 1 January
