Song Sung Blue ★★½

With films like Hamnet and Sentimental Value, this season’s set of releases offer a look at the power of artistic expression. For some creative types, it is a necessity for them to function in their lives and that is the case for Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire (Kate Hudson) in Song Sung Blue. Artistic expression provides a chance for them to dream. They are both singers on the Milwaukee circuit of celebrity impersonators, meeting by chance at a gig that soon sparks a working relationship then a romance. Together, they will be “Lighting and Thunder”, a tribute band dedicated to the works of Neil Diamond. Together, they will blend their families – Mike had a daughter from a previous marriage and Claire had a daughter and a young son – and give all of them a chance at life anew with doors opening left-and-right due to their art. Director Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue can be quite a crowd pleaser at times, playing toe-tapping tunes joyously rendered by its Neil Diamond experience performers. At other times, it can break your heart and leave you marveling at the dramatic turns life can take.

In the world of music biopics, Song Sung Blue is at least unique in tackling two relatively obscure figures. There is a documentary of the same name that was released in 2008, upon which this film is based, and it is not just because of the documentary that Song Sung Blue feels like a familiar work. Assuming one is not familiar with Mike and Claire Sardina’s story, then it at least has the element of dramatic surprise that most biopics do not have, but it largely plays it close to the established tropes. There is their time of coming onto the scene as a joint act, their dramatic rise, their sudden fall, and then a shot at coming back. There are powerful themes of resilience in the face of hardship, the importance of support systems, and the healing power of art. For Mike, music is his outlet. He is, at the start of the film, 20 years sober from alcohol. His daughter Angelina (King Princess) says that music is his new addiction and it is true. For Mike, he is only himself on stage. He is able to function because of his work as “Lightning” and the same is true for Claire who, when she met Mike, was working various impersonations including Patsy Cline. This is her way of expressing herself, of getting a chance to lose herself in song for an evening at a time and, once she meets Mike, to connect with the man she loves on a deeper level. They understand each other, are in complete harmony, and are truly one another’s missing piece.

Song Sung Blue is a tale of two-halves: the exuberant rise and the brutal fall. Mike and Claire’s story is a tragic one, but one always defined by family. When not on stage, Brewer shows the passage of time in how close they all get. From the awkward first meeting between Mike and Claire’s daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) to, as the years go on, Rachel and her brother Dayna (Hudson Hensley) calling Mike by either “Papa” or “Dad”. There is no big emotional moment where they finally make that jump, but rather one in the background where this blended family truly becomes one. They support one another through the good and bad times. When the latter comes around, they urge Mike and Claire to get back on stage, as it is the place where they and even the kids are the happiest. Their story is a wild one, a tribute band that reaches heights such as opening for Pearl Jam – a scene with a young Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith) joining them on stage is hard not to smile through with Rachel’s excitement over her hero sharing a stage with her mother and stepdad proving truly contagious – and selling out a concert competing with a Neil Diamond tour stop in Milwaukee. All the while, tragic incidents are so out of the blue and unusual that it does feel like the universe has it out for this family in particular.

Nevertheless, its conventional appeal and striving for middlebrow pleasure leaves Song Song Blue feeling a bit hollow at times. The pacing, in order to condense so many years, can be a bit abrupt. One hardly realizes a decade-plus has passed by the end of the film. Some of the line deliveries can be a bit rough from the supporting cast – Ella Anderson is largely good, but whenever she says “Papa”, all I could think of was Zooey Deschanel in Elf which did not really help her cause – and Song Sung Blue introduces a bunch of interesting side characters that it has no idea what to do with. However, Michael Imperioli, Mustafa Shakir, Fisher Stevens, and Jim Belushi make the most of what they are given. The main drawback, in the end, is the story’s true roots. The gift of telling a true story is that, with some tweaking, one has a ready-made and human story to share. The curse is that it is not all going to be sunshine and rainbows. When Song Sung Blue is simple karaoke fun, it soars. When it has to tackle the really heavy subject matter of Mike and Claire’s life once tragedy hits them a few times, it is not just downcast but feels a bit strained. It is a bit too poking and belabored, struggling through the mud of these events and leaving a mark on its easy-to-swallow crowd pleasing appeal.

Fortunately, in the end, it is a hard musical to resist. The songs are good and wonderfully performed. Hugh Jackman is a ball of charisma, losing himself in the music and the often kitschy appeal of Mike’s Neil Diamond act. Kate Hudson gives her best performance in years, possessing plenty of spunk and personality in those early days. For Mike and Claire and for everyone they come in contact with, they exude the healing power of music, of being able to lose oneself in a song and forget about the troubles of their lives. In one another, as well as their children, they find a support system that backs them when the music ends and they are left all alone in their family home with real problems they cannot ignore. Song Sung Blue is an easy to enjoy and immensely charming film that struggles to break free of its conventional structure and the tonal shifts necessitated by its true story, but offers more than enough family and musical appeal to be a safe viewing option this holiday season.