SONG SUNG BLUE (2025) review

written by: Craig Brewer
produced by: John Davis, John Fox, and Craig Brewer
directed by: Craig Brewer
rated: PG-13 (for thematic material, some strong language, some sexual material, and brief drug use)
runtime: 132 min.
U.S. release date: December 25, 2025

Despite shooting in New Jersey, writer/director Craig Brewer has made the most Midwest movie I’ve seen all year with “Song Sung Blue”. It’s a touching dramatization of a Milwaukee-based married couple who spent much of their time as Lightning and Thunder, “a New Diamond Experience,” in the 1980s and 90s. The movie wears its heart on its satin, sequined sleeves. It is grounded by the resilience, commitment, and hard-scrabble sensibilities of characters who want to entertain others with their music and, hopefully, pay their bills along the way. Some will see this as manipulation, but when such sentiments are delivered with this kind of earnestness, I’m here for it.

As “Song Sung Blue” opens, a title card reads, “Based on a True Love Story, and then we meet Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), who introduces himself at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. His dirty fingernails tune his acoustic guitar, as he shares with other alcoholics how he lives to entertain audiences as a singer and guitarist covering popular hits, when he’s not working as an auto mechanic. He breaks into the titular song, explaining how meaningful it is to him, making an effort to play it every year on his sober birthday. This year is special for Mike, as it marks the 20th anniversary. He shares how he doesn’t have a fancy costume or wig, just a lightning bolt on the back of his denim jacket, signifying his persona as “Lightning”, as he plays around bars, events, and festivals.

Later on, at the Wisconsin State Fair, Mike refuses to wear a Hawaiian shirt and a lei, with a wig and sunglasses to impersonate and sing Don Ho’s songs. He believes he and his music should be enough. This frustrates his friend, Max Shurilla (Michael Imperioli), a singer/guitarist and Buddy Holly impersonator, who oversees a “legends tour” group of Mark impersonators at the fair. Among them are a James Brown impersonator, Sex Machine (Mustafa Shakir); a guy named Earl (Jayson Warner Smith) who impersonates Elvis; and a Barbara Streisand impersonator, Babs (Darius Rose). As he’s on his way out, another performer catches Mike’s attention. Her name is Claire Stingl (Kate Hudson), and she’s a hairdresser doing a Patsy Cline act. He grabs her attention, and when she suggests he would make a good Neil Diamond impersonator, he’s reluctant at first, considering how revered Mike holds Diamond’s songs.

However, the more they get to know each other, the more Mike realizes his chemistry with Claire is undeniable. She’s on his wavelength and has a positive can-do attitude that’s infectious. Soon enough, Mike realizes they could be a great performing duo. He brands her “Thunder” and they begin to practice Neil Diamond songs together, with Claire on keyboards and vocals, the addition of Mark on guitar (after the fiftysomething states there’s no point in going on as Buddy Holly since the real Holly died at age 22), a bassist, a drummer, and a horn section.

They start booking gigs as Lightning and Thunder, thanks to the financial backing of Mike’s dentist, Dr. Dave Watson (Fisher Stevens), and Tom D’Amato (Jim Belushi, in full Chicago accent), and they earn quite a following in the Milwaukee area. Their popularity even lands them a gig as an opener for Pearl Jam at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, with Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith) joining them on stage to sing “Forever in Blue Jeans”. (This occurred on July 7, 1995, when Lightning and Thunder joined Pearl Jam to sing the song as their encore).

More importantly, Mike and Claire fall in love and get married, becoming a blended family with their kids from previous marriages: Claire’s twentysomething daughter, Rachel Cartwright (a wonderful Ella Anderson), and her brother, Dayna Cartwright (Hudson Hensley), and Mike’s twentysomething daughter, Angelina (King Princess). It’s not an easy blend, with Rachel taking some time to get used to Mike. But, eventually, Angelina helps her see that there’s more to her father than Neil Diamond songs, especially considering his time in Vietnam. The family’s harmony is interrupted by life changes, such as a sudden injury to Claire and Mike’s developing heart condition, both of which put tremendous strain on Lightning and Thunder, but also an undeniable emotional toll for the couple.

Surprisingly, the movie isn’t based on a memoir or a newspaper article, but rather a 2008 documentary, also titled “Song Sung Blue”,  about the performing duo directed by Greg Kohs. It was praised by Roger Ebert and many other Midwest critics for focusing on an inspiring and harrowing story of Mike and Claire. Brewer was a big fan of the documentary when it came out, which is why he decided to write and direct this feature and bring the real-life love story to a broader audience. To do so, he reunites with award-winning cinematographer Amy Vincent, who worked on his previous films, “Hustle and Flow”, “Black Snake Moan”, and “Footloose”. Vincent combines a dazzling balance between naturalism and theatricality for “Song Sung Blue, using luminous lighting and lenses to follow the journey Mike and Claire undergo fittingly. Vincent works with production designer Clay Griffith to populate the movie with real, lived-in places, such as the home where Mike and Claire live, which is an actual house found in New Jersey. And even though it wasn’t shot in the Milwaukee area, at no point does it feel like a soundstage, nor does it ever feel like these aren’t real places. Vincent also worked with theatrical lighting designer Christina See, who had worked on concerts in the 90s for bands such as Pearl Jam, giving the live concerts an undeniable authenticity.

A movie like this lives or dies on the casting of its two leads, and Brewer lucked out with Jackman and Hudson, who can sing great and have their own natural showmanship. It also helps that they’re relatively the same age, making their real-life drama all the more believable. They perform superbly together, whether they are working out songs in Mike’s garage, doing a gig at a biker bar, or headlining a karaoke at a Thai restaurant. These two are golden together. Their connection onstage is infectious and bleeds into the audience. But at the heart of “Song Sung Blue” are Jackman and Hudson, who deliver performances that are much more heartfelt and raw than expected, without laying on any saccharine or going “whole ham.” Both of them go through the highs and lows with their characters, with respect and vulnerability, and their work really pushes the movie beyond any perceived predictability.

There’s a good deal about Mike and Claire that I’m purposely not covering here, and that’s because I went in cold and was quite surprised by some real-life turn of events. Some viewers will see the tonal swings in “Song Sung Blue” as manipulative or formulaic, which usually sets off red flags for me. But I didn’t detect any of that here. Life gives us some hard left turns, no matter how hard we work or how good our intentions are.

RATING: ***