‘Song Sung Blue’ review: Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are high notes of mawkish musical tribute

Dir: Craig Brewer. US. 2025. 131mins

Telling the tearjerking true story of a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute band, Song Sung Blue reaches for so many emotional crescendoes that the effect is more wearying than cathartic. Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson shine as these troubled souls drawn to each other as much as they are to their shared love of the venerable singer-songwriter, and the film’s musical sequences are easily its high point. But writer-director Craig Brewer stumbles when the couple step away from the stage, falling victim to an overly melodramatic approach that’s out of rhythm with the rest of the picture.

Proves too flimsy to withstand the heavier tone

Having closed AFI Fest, Song Sung Blue will open in the US on Christmas Day before arriving in UK theatres on New Year’s Day. The picture is poised to be a crowd-pleasing alternative for viewers wary of the holiday season’s weightier fare. And Diamond’s fans should enjoy hearing Jackman and Hudson duet on his best-loved tunes.

In the mid-1990s, ageing Milwaukee single dad Mike (Jackman) meets single mother Claire (Hudson); both of them are passionate about performing, despite their inability to write their own songs. Enamoured of Neil Diamond, the man behind hits like ‘Sweet Caroline,’ Mike talks Claire into starting a Diamond cover band, calling themselves Lightning & Thunder. They quickly fall in love and get married, blending their families and building an audience with their propulsive live performances. But personal tragedy awaits, threatening to dash their dreams.

Adapted from Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name, Brewer’s new film recalls his 2005 breakthrough Hustle & Flow, which similarly focused on discontented individuals who find purpose in making music. And like with Hustle & Flow, and Brewer’s Footloose remake, Song Sung Blue is most vibrant when it’s focused on the music. The Tony-winning Jackman is unsurprisingly terrific belting out Diamond’s demonstrative tunes, nicely mimicking the artist’s strident, emphatic voice. Hudson, who released her debut album last year, more than holds her own, providing a lilting counterpoint to Jackman’s powerful baritone. The actors also work to keep Mike and Claire from sounding too perfect, giving the characters’ renditions of favourites like ‘Holly Holy’ a welcome grit and humanness.

In the picture’s early reels, Mike and Claire’s burgeoning romance boasts an easygoing grace. For the most part, the appealing leads believably play everyday Midwesterners who have demons to fight. (An alcoholic and a Vietnam war veteran, Mike has been sober for 20 years but is plagued by lingering heart issues, while Claire requires medication to battle anxiety and depression.) Neither actor fully sheds their movie-star glamour, but they grasp their characters’ need for music as a shield from so much heartbreak. 

Without revealing what specific challenges eventually enter Mike and Claire’s life, Song Sung Blue severely changes tone once a terrible shock occurs. But both the revelation and the aftermath suffer from awkward execution exacerbated by the characters’ unconvincing personality shifts. Brewer shows immense sympathy for how addiction and mental health issues can complicate a relationship but, as Song Sung Blue moves from lighthearted to more sombre, the film proves too flimsy to withstand the heavier tone.

Just as unfortunate, the film builds to a would-be rollicking finale meant to give these likable underdogs their happy ending. But the journey to that feel-good ending feels rushed and unearned, and there are more heavy-handed tragedies in store. Diamond’s best-known hits go for the throat, bypassing subtlety to deliver unapologetically big emotional statements, and so it is with Song Sung Blue, which pushes too hard to get the viewer to invest in Mike and Claire’s rollercoaster relationship.