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This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable true-life story emerging from the American entertainment world; a lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour won’t prepare you for the way the narrative frequently and brutally turns like an unsafe fairground ride. Personally, I found myself shutting my eyes and mouth open at certain key points, and was grabbing the chair ahead tightly with my hands.

The Stranger-Than-Fiction Story

The couple Mike and Claire Sardina, terrifically played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple with kids from previous relationships that during the 1990s formed a kitschy homage performance to Neil Diamond called Lightning and Thunder; they became an underground sensation within their state and even performed before Pearl Jam, with the band's guitarist Eddie Vedder amiably accompanied them on stage for an additional song.

But things were not easy for them, and this film broods on how tough it is when misfortune's bolt hits repeatedly.

Adapting a Real Story

The film is actually based on a prior documentary film of the same title created in 2008 from filmmaker Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a film that was heavily reliant on the family's personal collection of home video. It’s fair to say that the documentary puts more emphasis on the unrealistic and ridiculous elements in the lives of Mike and Claire.

Yet this is not the approach taken by this movie from writer-director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. The director and stars transform the mockery into laugh-with. Jackman absolutely crushes it as a Neil Diamond impersonator, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and looking almost like him. He’s perfectly plausible as someone who isn’t supposed to be in the big league but who undoubtedly possesses the talent (and the vocal cords) to headline a performance.

Notable Acting

Hudson is also excellent, performing her own vocals as Claire, who prior to partnering with Mike in the world of Neil Diamond homage had a thriving act performing as Patsy Cline. She is shown 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, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. The role of Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess is Mike’s daughter Angelina who is around the same age – and their burgeoning friendship serving as another subtle element contributing to the movie's charm.

The Heart of the Story

Irony and satire have been meticulously excised from Mike and Claire’s dramatically packed life stories, and in their place Brewer substitutes those attributes which the pair personally would have been aware of: the fragility and isolation of trying to make it on the fringes of the music business, or for that matter making it anywhere and in any business.

It is a tale of relentless perseverance and its cheerful optimism renders it a rich holiday delight.

The film "Song Sung Blue" releases December 25th in the US and January 1st in Australia and the United Kingdom.