“If you live long enough, you can see your dreams die a slow death. Young people don’t know how good they have it. Not ’cause they can, uh, touch their toes and screw all night. They haven’t learned that most things just don’t work out. Most times, you just mess it up, so it’s easier not to try. We’re all just looking for some hope. But at my age, hope is hard. Hope’s not enough.”
Song Sung Blue is a remake, of sorts. The film was first made as a documentary on a couple who called themselves Lightning & Thunder, and they made a pretty big splash in the music business as a Neil Diamond tribute band. It was written and directed by Greg Kohs. What’s ironic here is that he didn’t want to do a documentary. He wanted to do a feature film, but no studio would take it because they thought the idea was a bit too crazy for fiction. He even had trouble getting Neil Diamond to allow him to use the music. He ended up going through Eddie Vedder, because Lightning & Thunder once opened for Pearl Jam. The film was presented at a Memphis film festival, where Craig Brewer saw the film and immediately approached Kohs to option the rights for that feature film that was never made. Brewer wrote the screenplay for the feature film, which shares it’s name with the documentary, which was named after a Neil Diamond song: Song Sung Blue. Now you can check out the film everyone thought was too crazy except Craig Brewer, because it’s out now on Blu-ray .
“Buddy Holly died when he was 22. I’m 52, and I’ve been keeping that guy alive 30 years past his prime. What I’m saying is … I’m here if you need me.”
Hugh Jackman plays Mike Sardina, who calls himself Lightning when he’s on the stage. He’s been part of a state fair legends act where he would put on a Hawaiian shirt and do Don Ho. He also played the only white guy in a Motown-like band tribute. But when he turns 20 years sober, he decides he wants a change in his life, and he walks out on the legends act. One of the best moments of these acts features Sopranos star Michael Imperioli who plays Mark Shurilla, who does a pretty spot-on Buddy Holly thing. He looks a natural on the guitar. Maybe that decade hanging out with Little Stevie Van Sant from The Boss’s E-Street Band rubbed off on him a little. But it’s not the Buddy Holly act that Mike notices that night. It’s Kate Hudson’s Claire doing a Patsy Kline bit that takes his attention. She shows up later at another one of his gigs, and the two take to each other hard. It was her idea that maybe he lean toward Neil Diamond that sets the stage for Lightning & Thunder, with Claire taking on the Thunder stage name. They pool their friends from the legends circuit, including Mark, and they put together an impressive act.
Mike’s manager and dentist is played by Fisher Stevens, who I first noticed in one of those Columbo revival films of the 1980’s. He played a Spielberg-like young director and killer. Here he adds some sweet support as Mike’s good friend and number-one fan of the act. He also introduces him to Tom D’Amato, who has connections, and before you know it the act is climbing so high they get invited to open for Pearl Jam. Tom is played by an almost unrecognizable Jim Belushi, who works kind of as bookends with Fisher supporting the act. The couple get really close, even though Mike has a hard time breaking through to Claire’s somewhat rebellious daughter, Rachel, played by Ella Anderson. Of course, there are ups and downs. An auto accident takes Claire’s leg, and her depression threatens to take it all away, and there’s a heartbreaking climax which actually wasn’t true.
There are two things that give this film legs. The first is the absolute magic chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. They make this couple as real as it gets, and the chemistry is just as strong on stage or off. Their performances are compelling, and they actually mitigate the fact that the film is too long by at least 30 minutes. You kind of don’t mind because of how much fun it is to watch them.
“There’s more to Neil Diamond than Sweet Caroline.” The second reason are the songs of Neil Diamond and the Jackman/Hudson performances of them. The choice of tunes was smart, mixing hits with songs only the fans might know. Unfortunately the songs are very much a part of the overlong running time. I find myself a little torn here, but in the end I found the running time just a little too brutal. The extended songs are available in the extras along with some really short interview pieces to make this a good bargain to keep for your video shelf. The film suffered from the fact too many people thought it was actually about Neil Diamond himself. I found many people who were sure it was a film about him. He doesn’t appear in the film as himself or a character. “There’s been a bit of a miscommunication.“
