The latest musical biopic is not a gleaming hagiography seeking to lionize the glamorous lives of rock stars or fawning fan service mythologizing their lavish escapades. Instead, Song Sung Blue, from filmmaker Craig Brewer, revolves around a real-life Neil Diamond tribute act, comprised of Mike, played by Hugh Jackman, and Claire Sardina, played by Kate Hudson, better known by their theatrical stage names: Thunder and Lightning.
Despite such grandiose monikers, these personas are confined to the stage, where the duo disappears into their performances and, for the fleeting duration of their setlist, transcends the despondent realities to which they are bound. Offstage, Mike and Claire are middle-aged, divorced, and barely middle-class Midwesterners, juggling odd jobs, overcoming alcoholism, raising children as single parents, and pouring any remnants of their energy into playing music.
