Review: Craig Brewer's Song Sung Blue is less Diamond, more cubic zirconia

Hello, it’s me, back on my grinchy bullsh-t to review Song Sung Blue, a treacly jukebox musical about Neil Diamond and the power of love.

Written and directed by Craig Brewer and based on Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name, Song Sung Blue chronicles the lives of legendary Milwaukee music “interpreters” Mike and Claire Sardina, better known by their stage names of Lightning and Thunder. Together they performed as a duo interpreting Neil Diamond’s music, rising to popularity in the 1990s before a series of tragedies cut their shared career short. The film stars Hugh Jackman as Mike “Lightning” Sardina and Kate Hudson as Claire “Thunder” Stengl Sardina.

Brewer is best known for directing the 2005 hip hop film Hustle & Flow, and it’s hard not to see the similarities with that film. Both are rags-to-riches tales of how music changes lives, both are sappy as f-ck but it’s easy to see the sap in Blue because, well, it’s Neil Diamond’s music at the heart of the film, and Neil Diamond’s music is sappy as f-ck. Don’t get me wrong, Diamond’s music is great, his broad popularity, often mocked as mid, is really just proof of how widely appealing his tunes are. Showman Hugh Jackman gets that and brings a real sense of reverence and respect to Mike’s love of Diamond’s music. When Mike, who works as a musical impersonator, says he respects Diamond too much to impersonate him, Claire comes up with the idea of “interpreting” Diamond’s music, and thus the Lightning & Thunder duo act is born.

The main problem is not with Jackman, Hudson, or Neil Diamond. Jackman and Hudson are charming as a pair of Midwest never-beens riding their musical dreams to unlikely success in middle age. They peak in the 1990s when they are invited by Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith, refreshingly making no attempt to look like the real person) to open for Pearl Jam at the height of their Nineties popularity (not exactly what happened in real life but who cares). They’re in love, their blended family is actually getting along, and they’re finally making some money, able to quit day jobs in favor of regular music gigs.

Then tragedy strikes when a car careens out of control and runs over Claire, resulting in one leg being partially amputated. What results is a downward spiral of depression and opioid addiction that ends the Lightning & Thunder winning streak and forces Mike back into day job hell. Kate Hudson is game in this portion of the film, bravely sporting Unflattering Hair and Unplucked Brows, and credit where it’s due, her Wisconsin accent is solid, hitting the flat vowels without overplaying the “doncha know” of it all, but you can feel her reaching for depths within Claire that do not exist on the page.

Craig Brewer’s script and direction cannot stand up to the amount of darkness that descends on the Sardina family. We are introduced to Mike as a long-time recovering alcoholic, but when his wife is battling her own addiction, there is no connection between these experiences. Mike is just Sad Man burdened by his wife’s problems, doing Work With Hands about it, even though he, more than anyone, knows the demon Claire is wrestling. Worse, the back half of the film becomes about what her trauma costs him. Even as we see Claire claw her way back to sobriety and learn to walk again on a prosthetic, it’s all in service of reviving Lightning & Thunder. And sure, Claire has her own spotlight dreams, but the film clearly positions her recovery as a means of saving Mike’s musical career.

Blue follows a very predictable trajectory, except that Mike and Claire Sardina’s story defies conventions and no amount of Hollywood scripting can cope with the absolutely gutting turn the film takes in the final third. Once again, Brewer is not up to the task, he is just not nearly weird enough for this tale. A story that goes from 1980s Midwest rom-com to Pearl Jam success story to opioid crisis family drama to Greek tragedy demands a filmmaker of either incredible emotional depth, like Wim Wenders, or a deeply bizarre sensibility, like David Lynch, or both, like Werner Herzog. I’d love to see the Werner Herzog version of Song Sung Blue.

But the Sardinas’ incredible tale is reduced to the most formulaic cinematic storytelling, all edges sanded off in the name of making the least offensive film possible. Like Neil Diamond’s music, it will probably appeal to a wide swath of people, and like Neil Diamond’s music, it will probably be mocked for being saccharine and unchallenging. But unlike Neil Diamond’s music, Song Sung Blue is actually bad, missing the expert writing that makes Diamond’s music so appealing. Blue is clearly trying to be the film version of a catchy pop song, but it lacks the hidden depth that has helped Diamond’s music withstand the test of time. In the end, Song Sung Blue is less Diamond, more cubic zirconia.

Song Sung Blue will play exclusively in theaters from December 25, 2025.