Directed By Craig Brewer

Starring – Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Jim Belushi

The Plot – Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians nicknamed Lightning and Thunder (Jackman and Hudson), form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it’s never too late to find love and follow your dreams.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some strong adult language, some sexual material and brief drug use.

SONG SUNG BLUE – Official Trailer [HD] – Only in Theaters This Christmas

POSITIVES

While certain films require the creative embellishing or cinematic underlining to spice up true stories to appeal to the silver screen, “Song Sung Blue” is a remarkably empowering and at times tragically bittersweet biopic featuring a story that feels too crazy to be true, even if confirmed as entirely factually accurate by the real-life Thunder, herself. It’s a film about finding love in the least likeliest of places, but beyond that a power ballad of a love-letter to the inspiring and healing power of music, particularly while paying homage to one of America’s greatest songwriters, and with Brewer valuing the life and times of this dynamic duo on the stage every bit as much as he does their frequent trials and tribulations off of it, conjures a gripping story about emotional and physical resiliency that appraised a lot of respect and empathy to two people who sought to make a difference in their own ways with other artists music. In terms of the script, the film is certainly elevated by those tense moments that nearly define the couple in the craziest of circumstances, particularly lightning striking twice with a blinding accident to Hudson’s Claire, that drives the movie’s tone powerfully into the dramatic territory, but the moments that endeared me were ultimately those elements involving the seemingly inescapable clutch of depression, as well as the creative process of act-making that not only illustrates a depth of humanity among these characters, but also outlines the inseparable bond between them that makes for a sweetly satisfying love story, all complimented continuously by the naturally affectionate chemistry that Jackman and Hudson command so believably with the ways they look at one another. It certainly proves that Brewer values these characters as something far more transcendent than just stage acts, especially when so much of the movie’s second half persists away from the glitz and glamour of the industry, choosing instead to elicit the unsettling realities of what stems from their situational aversities, and while his execution isn’t always able to evade the tropes and cliches that often condemn so many of these music biopics, I feel that his direction lends itself to appreciating the vulnerabilities that simultaneously flesh out the flawed characteristics of these people, without exploiting them in ways that feel demeaning, and it’s one of those stories that truly has to be seen to be believed. On top of this, the film’s late 80’s to mid 90’s setting does make it a period piece of sorts, but I love that the production is much more reserved at fleshing out the visual familiarities of that particular age, and instead more dedicated towards the tangibility of fame at this level, involving everything from lighting and framing of the magnetism elicited from Lightning and Thunder’s warm and commanding stage presence, but also the authenticity from the threads of the wardrobe and some hair and make-up schemes that gracefully age and tax these characters throughout the depths of their eventual despair. Such an example pertains to many of Neil Diamond’s iconic looks being reproduced seamlessly by designer Ernesto Martinez, particularly his sequin button-ups and gowns that bring legitimacy to the duo looking the part for who they’re attempting to emulate, as well as some subtle greying and wrinkle work in the defined aging of Jackman’s Mike, which could also double for the intense stressful toll and overwhelming responsibility that he faces in keeping the family together. What I love is that the designs certainly merit unmistakable likeness to the artist they’re pertaining to, but with an evidential cheapness that does convey the realities of fame at this particular level, and with the third act climax shifting through many of the aforementioned presentational aspects, really gives a palpably triumphant feeling to the audience that cemented the group’s industrial effect, with their road to the top invoking a wide collection of Neil’s favorites that make for one versatile soundtrack. While the movie certainly makes no reservations about “Sweet Caroline” being his most requested track, even at the nagging annoyance of Mike attempting to constantly convey the magnitude of great songs that the artist has written, tracks like “I Am…I Said” and “Soolaimon” prove the production’s commitment to illustrating the bigger picture, and with Jackman and Hudson lending their own vocals to these performances, maximizes more of an effortless investment and believability to these musical performances, with their best work being the pitch between their collective vocals blending so warm and passionate with one another. Speaking of performances, Jackman and Hudson both give nomination-worthy performances, even if one so obviously stood out above the other, in my personal opinion. Jackman’s charming bravado and rugged resistance to Mike certainly endears us to the limitless charisma that the actor has made a career out of, but it’s those moments under the lights when he elicits the most assertive of intentions, conjuring a pizazz and pomp of an energetically physical performance. While Jackman is good, Hudson is simply great, bringing forth her single greatest performance since her Oscar turn in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous”, supplanting a bubbly radiance to Claire’s infectious stage demeanor, which is eventually sacrificed for a plunging psychological paralysis in the confines of depression, and while Hudson is isolated for so many of these tenderly terrorizing moments, her situation hangs like a dark cloud over this family, and it’s proof of Kate’s commanding power as a dramatic actress, once her character’s initial optimism and adventurous spirit gives way to internalized anguish and remorse for what could’ve been.

NEGATIVES

At just over two hours, “Song Sung Blue” has ample opportunity to flesh out a variety of subplots and characters that it constantly stacks like dishes during the movie’s first and second acts, however with breakneck pacing to its storytelling, often leaves so many of these arcs feeling tragically undercooked and abruptly enacted, making much of the movie’s first half feel like it’s going through the virtual motions, on its way to getting to another musical performance. Considering that this movie isn’t classified as a musical, it’s a bit surprising that its structure ends up coming across as that during the opening act, especially with so many swift time shifts that resolve surmising conflicts with the ease and convenience of a sitcom, complete with heavy-handed exposition in the depths of two daughter characters, whose only purpose seems to be to fill in the gaps of what will never experience, and when you combine this with some nagging tropes inside the tediously redundant subgenre of music biopics, you realize that Brewer wasn’t totally able to evade what so many have done repetitively before him, nearly sacrificing the dramatic undertow of a story that should never come close to feeling derivative. On top of this, some of the supporting performances are admittedly a mixed bag, with one of the worst Eddie Vedder impressions that I have ever seen being forgivable enough, considering he’s in one scene during the movie, but also one not so forgivable turn from the otherwise solid Jim Belushi, who here is the comic relief in a role that is so exaggeratedly distracting that it feels like he’s in a satirical spoof, when everyone else is in a Oscar’s contender. I don’t entirely blame Jim, as he’s simply being directed this way, and he does somewhat settle down with the film choosing to drift away from him, during the second half, but I found too much energy and facial contortion to be ailing issues with buying him as a real-life character, and considering Jackman and Hudson disappear seamlessly into the soulful spectrum of their roles, it takes the film’s quality down a significant step, each time Belushi is on-screen, bringing with it these frequent tonal clashes against the waves of dramaticism that occasionally have this feeling like two different films that were stitched together by a studio unsure of its tonal designation. Finally, considering this is a true story, it’s a bit strange that there isn’t on-screen text during the movie’s credits to signify where certain characters are, or even what they did after the storytelling of the movie concludes, leaving me more than curious to explore these people on a deeper level than one that is conquered cinematically. This obviously won’t be a problem for everyone, however in a movie that capitalizes on more than a few tropes to its execution, it’s a bit unfulfilling that the one it abandons is the epilogue could outline the bigger picture of the group’s worldwide impact, and considering there’s so little about Mike and Claire, other than what we learn about them in this film and a previous documentary, it left my curiosity unfulfilled by a swift fade to black, leaving me wishing a couple of sentences were utilized to fill in the gaps of the thirty years that has passed since the events in the movie concludes.

OVERALL
“Song Sung Blue” might feel like a lovingly affectionate tribute to Neil Diamond, on the surface, but it’s ultimately an upliftingly inspiring and at times achingly heart-wrenching biopic that lands the loudest in those moments away from the glitz and glamour of the stage. Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson make beautiful music together, sampling a collection of Diamond’s endless catalogue with the virtue and vigilance of a captivating entertainer, and though the film occasionally suffers in unpursued arcs and undervalued characters, in the extent of an over two hour runtime, it strikes a chord of sentimentality and sincerity in its crazy-but-true story, taking so much value in life’s small-but-significant victories that fuel our inspiration.

My Grade: 7.9 or B-