When somebody tells you they've made a movie about two middle-aged people performing Neil Diamond songs in Wisconsin, your first reaction probably isn't, "I've got to see that!"
Think about it. How many movies have we seen about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, or some other musical legend? Hollywood loves telling us how famous people became famous. And we love watching those stories.
But what about the millions of people who spend their lives chasing a dream that never quite turns out the way they imagined?
That's why Song Sung Blue is so refreshing. It's a movie that tells the story of two musicians who never really became famous.
Not Exactly the Road to Stardom
Hugh Jackman plays Mike Sardina, a struggling musician who performs under the name Lightning. Kate Hudson plays Claire, another musician trying to make a living doing something she loves.
Neither is particularly successful. They're not young performers on the verge of being discovered, and nobody is knocking down their doors with recording contracts. They're ordinary people dealing with ordinary problems.
But they share something important.
They both love performing, and neither is quite ready to give up on the possibility that music might still have something to offer them. Eventually, they become a couple and form a Neil Diamond tribute act called Lightning and Thunder.
Yes, Lightning and Thunder.
It's a name that sounds like it belongs on the side of a van parked behind a bowling alley somewhere. But that's part of what makes the story interesting. These are people who aren't especially concerned with whether the rest of the world thinks their dream is impressive.
They just want to perform. And there's something appealing about that.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson Make It Work
Of course, casting two major Hollywood stars as struggling musicians presents an interesting problem. You're asking us to believe that Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are ordinary people scraping together a living in the Midwest.
That's a fairly substantial leap.
But both actors are comfortable with musical performances, and the movie gives them an opportunity to do something besides stand around looking attractive and delivering dialogue.
Jackman brings plenty of enthusiasm to Mike, a man who might not have the career he wanted but certainly hasn't lost his appetite for performing.
Hudson is particularly important because Claire needs to be somebody we care about beyond her relationship with Mike. She's got her own ambitions, her own problems, and her own reasons for wanting something better.
Their relationship becomes the movie's real attraction. The music is entertaining, particularly if you like Neil Diamond, but it's the relationship between these two people that gives the story somewhere to go.
And it doesn't always go where you might expect.
I'm not going to get into the specifics because I think it's better to discover those developments while watching the movie. Just don't go into this expecting two hours of people singing "Sweet Caroline" and living happily ever after.
Success Doesn't Always Mean Stardom
One of the more interesting things about Song Sung Blue is how differently it treats success compared with the typical musical biography.
There's no shortage of movies about enormously talented people who become enormously successful. We know how those stories generally go, even when there are a few tragedies along the way.
Song Sung Blue is interested in something smaller and, in some ways, easier to relate to.
Most of us aren't going to become famous. Most of us aren't going to have our names on a theater marquee or thousands of people waiting to hear us sing. But that doesn't mean we stop wanting something out of life.
And maybe the best part of Mike and Claire's story is that they don't seem to need the entire world to appreciate what they're doing.
Sometimes a room full of people singing along is enough.
