Song Sung Blue: It's Hard Out Here for a Cover Band

While not a household name, Craig Brewer has quietly become a prominent modern pop filmmaker. His 2005 breakout, Hustle & Flow, resulted in a genuine cultural moment when rap crew Three 6 Mafia won an Oscar for the film’s anthem, “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.” Music figured strongly in Brewer’s subsequent projects: the blues-inflected Black Snake Moan, 2011’s Footloose remake, and his role as producer of Katy Perry: Part of Me. Now, following two movies with Eddie Murphy (the underrated Dolemite Is My Name and Coming 2 America), Brewer returns with a musical biopic “Based on a True Love Story.” 

Song Sung Blue follows two middle-aged dreamers struggling against the odds on the Milwaukee cover band circuit, and is based on the real-life couple Mike and Claire Sardina. Hugh Jackman plays Mike, a.k.a. Lightning, an aging rocker who finds meaning in creating a “Neil Diamond experience” with his new love Claire, played by Kate Hudson.

The film opens with Mike delivering a message of inspiration to an unseen group, acoustic guitar in hand. It turns out he’s at an AA meeting, celebrating his 20 year “sober-versary.” After his remarks, he regales the group with a song, and you might guess what kind of movie this is when Mike’s fellow recovering alcoholics all join in.

Lightning has a rough backstory: a tour of duty in Vietnam that resulted in PTSD-fueled addiction issues, and a teen daughter from a failed relationship. He makes ends meet with cover band gigs, where he meets Claire, who performs as Patsy Cline. A single mom with her own troubled past, she falls for Mike’s sincere devotion to the craft of entertaining, and as their relationship deepens, he confides his dream of creating a serious Neil Diamond tribute show. Lightning and Thunder is born.

From this admittedly corny setup, the story takes some wild swerves, quite literally. It’s difficult to explain what makes the film work without revealing its central plot twist, which the trailer does a good job of concealing. Suffice it to say, this whole other thing happens that cranks the melodrama up to Douglas Sirk levels. It helps to go in knowing as little as possible.

Many of the film’s surface details, from the abundant sequins to Lightning’s unfortunate hairdo, threaten to turn it into a Walk Hard-style parody. But Brewer’s writing is jet-fueled by committed performances from his actors, who pour every ounce of their considerable movie star charisma into their parts. Jackman balances his shameless theater kid energy, honed on his recent Broadway run as The Music Man, with the hard-luck pathos the role demands, his bulging shoulder muscles the only give-away he’s not a regular guy. 

But it’s Hudson who carries the movie. Decades on from her Almost Famous It Girl days, her closeups reveal the emotional depths of a resilient, talented woman who just wants to experience a little happiness before the curtain falls. It’s a revelatory, startlingly vulnerable performance, one of the year’s best.

For some, the film’s Achilles heel will be the music itself. Neil Diamond fans will probably appreciate the emphasis on deep cuts over endless renditions of “Sweet Caroline,” while the uninvested will still find plenty of movie to enjoy. If, like the hecklers at one unfortunate biker bar gig, you think Diamond sucks, your mileage will undoubtedly vary.

Song Sung Blue is hardly lacking in biopic cliches, from the band practice montages to the photo of the real-life Sardinas appearing over the end credits. But with its tortuous reversals of fortune and hard-won working-class sentiment, the film has real juice. While the overall package suggests a future in background streaming purgatory, Brewer may have another word of mouth sleeper on his hands. 

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