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Here is a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable true-life story emerging from American showbusiness; a lovable crowdpleaser with its uplifting tone won’t prepare you for the way the plot frequently and brutally turns like an unsafe fairground ride. I actually had myself shutting my eyes and mouth open during several crucial moments, while clutching the seat in front of me tightly with my hands.

The Stranger-Than-Fiction Story

Mike and Claire Sardina, terrifically played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple with kids from prior unions who in the 90s formed a cheesy Neil Diamond tribute act called Lightning and Thunder; they grew into a cult hit within their state and even performed before Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder amiably accompanied them on stage for an additional song.

However, life was far from simple for the pair, and this film broods on how tough it is when the lightning of ill fortune strikes more than once.

From Documentary to Drama

It is in fact adapted from a prior documentary film bearing the identical name created in 2008 by Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a film that was extensively on the family's personal collection of home video. One could argue that the documentary focuses more intently on the unrealistic and ridiculous elements of Mike and Claire’s life.

But that’s not how this film from director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. He, Jackman and Hudson transform the mockery into shared amusement. Jackman delivers a masterful performance portraying a Neil Diamond tribute artist, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and looking almost like him. He is entirely believable as an individual not destined for the major leagues but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to carry a show.

Notable Acting

Hudson is also excellent, doing her own singing as Claire, who before she joined Mike in the world of Neil Diamond homage enjoyed a successful career performing as Patsy Cline. The film depicts her belting out Cline numbers, even though one particular Cline standard that this film interestingly misses out.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator called Mark, while Mustafa Shakir appears as a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. Ella Anderson plays Claire’s teen daughter Rachel, and King Princess portrays Mike’s daughter Angelina who is around the same age – and their burgeoning friendship serving as another subtle element of the film’s likability.

The Heart of the Story

Sarcasm and mockery have been surgically removed from Mike and Claire’s heart-stoppingly eventful life stories, and in their place Brewer substitutes those qualities which the pair personally would have been aware of: the fragility and isolation of trying to make it in the margins of the music industry, or for that matter succeeding in any field and within any profession.

This is a tale of relentless perseverance and its cheerful optimism renders it a calorific Christmas treat.

The film "Song Sung Blue" is out on 25 December in the US and 1 January in Australia and the United Kingdom.