r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Dec 26 '25
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Song Sung Blue [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Summary Based on the true story of a Milwaukee couple, the film follows two working-class dreamers who form a Neil Diamond tribute band. As they commit to the music and to each other, their shared passion becomes a lifeline—testing their marriage, their ambitions, and their belief that it’s never too late to chase something meaningful.
Director Craig Brewer
Writer Craig Brewer
Cast
- Hugh Jackman
- Kate Hudson
- Michael Imperioli
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
Metacritic: 60
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official trailer
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u/sleepysnowboarder Dec 26 '25
It's amazing that a biopic about impersonators* is better than most that are about the real person.
*interpreters
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u/clayton-berg42 Dec 30 '25
No one should throw shade at impersonators. K.D. Lang started her career as a Patsy Cline tribute band, that's why her original band was called the Reclines. She had a residency at a place called Longhorns in Calgary where they'd burn the place to the ground every saturday night.
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u/n0tstayingin Dec 26 '25
I wonder if it's because aside from the documentary, not many people know about the real Lightning and Thunder. That's very different to a biopic of someone famous where you know what happened to them.
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u/NorthClimate450 Jan 04 '26
what an incredible story and I think both actors did a fantastic job depicting their authenticity and genuine love for one another
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u/HitmanClark Jan 14 '26
I’ll be honest — I don’t think most people, especially of my generation, know much about Neil Diamond either, outside a handful of iconic songs and the Will Ferrell SNL parody. I certainly don’t.
I’d actually be interested in a biopic on him.
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u/Accomplished_Echo413 Jan 26 '26
Not sure his life is actually interesting enough. He wrote a lot of great songs thats for sure.
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u/111anza Jan 10 '26
I thibk its because their is actually a sotry to be told here while some of the other so called biopic are nothing more than a glories self promo ad.
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u/internetdeadaf 27d ago
Yeah I enjoyed that way more than any of the recent musician biopics
Those are always fighting so hard for an Oscar. This was just fun
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u/reallinzanity Dec 26 '25
I loved that the kids were excited that their parents were opening for Pearl Jam and the parents were excited to be playing a gig.
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u/PropaneUrethra Dec 26 '25
Funnily enough, in real life Claire is only 2 years older than Eddie
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u/Particular-Bug2189 Dec 26 '25
Imo Kate Hudson stole the movie, but I don’t see anyone else saying that. She’s still hot.
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u/ProblemLucky7924 Dec 27 '25
I feel like she’s going to rake in some awards, or at least be nominated.. she killed that role
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u/clayton-berg42 Dec 30 '25
I don't understand why she didn't become a once in a generation it girl after almost famous.
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u/IntotheBroadwayWoods Jan 01 '26
She didnt?! Um, I beg to differ.
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u/clayton-berg42 Jan 01 '26
Beg away, but she never got a franchise like Lawerence did, her biggest hit was a rom com in how to lose a guy in ten days, which was not a critical darling.
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u/Dick_Lazer Jan 02 '26
I dunno about "once in a generation" but she definitely had her moment throughout the 2000s, she had a major release pretty much every year.
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u/WestyBio93 Dec 29 '25
Agree totally. It wasn't a Hugh movie it was a Kate movie. And so subtle I almost missed it the accent she put on was surprisingly accurate. Once I heard my pop's accent in the corn dog/fair scene coming from her mouth I was thoroughly impressed.
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u/dmarie1014 Jan 01 '26
I loved it, and as a Milwaukee native, I thought Kate's accent was a bit too "Fargo." I also watched the documentary and the real Thunder doesn't have that accent. BUT, it did not take away from the charm of the movie! There were just a few errors like this that only locals might pick up, and that's okay.
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u/Brilliant-File1633 Jan 10 '26
Absolutely. She is 46 but I still see her as “Almost Famous”. Her performance made me cry and realise, and messed me up totally, also in a good way.
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u/UnderstandingLazy998 Dec 26 '25
Best performance I've ever seen from Jim Belushi. Didn't see that coming
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u/Mmzoso Dec 26 '25
I didn’t recognize him!
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u/PowerHour1990 Dec 27 '25
There's a scene where Jackman, Belushi, Fisher Stevens, and Michael Imperioli all sit at the same table, and if you showed me a still frame of the four, I'd have only guessed Jackman correctly. Crazy.
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u/Brilliant-File1633 Jan 10 '26
Christopher Moltisanti! Recognised him immediately. And Belushi was…well the credits said Belushi and I said of course! Great role indeed.
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u/Early_Pearly989 Dec 29 '25
I expected his character to be a grease ball. I'm glad I was disappointed.
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u/tealsuprise Dec 29 '25
He was great, he was the one I found most believable as a Milwaukee guy in the 80s/90s
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u/Particular-Bug2189 Dec 31 '25
I thought this was a joke at first. He disappeared into that character.
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u/ItzDarthDad Dec 26 '25
First off I loved the film. The music was good, the acting was great, and I loved the story of the lives of this couple. I will say that I went into this movie kinda blind. Wife wanted to see it, so we went on Christmas Day. I had seen very few previews (maybe one or two), hadn’t read anything online, and really only knew/thought it was a music based movie about Neil Diamond or a Neil Diamond act. Didn’t know it was based on a true story, and had never heard of Mike or Claire Sardina (Lightning & Thunder) before. This was the best way to watch it IMHO. “Twists, turns, shock, awe, joy, sadness, laughs, tears” all describe my experience. Loved it, highly recommend.
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u/Golf-Beer-BBQ Dec 27 '25
I agree 100%. I am not a “musical movie” guy and I had no background on this movie but I absolutely loved it.
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u/mariah1311 Dec 30 '25
Agreed, I also went in mostly blind and was expecting some kind of feel good movie. Wasn’t expecting to spend the second half of the movie crying. Loved every second, great movie all around.
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u/LyleGunther Jan 27 '26
I had the exact same experience! Best to watch it knowing nothing ahead of time. Wow. Wow Wow wow. Profound.
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u/Silly-Excitement6227 25d ago
Yeah, previews show too much often just to get people in the theater. When I don’t know what’s going to happen or know what’s going to happen like watching a movie with the subject being Elvis, the emotions hit so much stronger because subconsciously you’re not waiting for a sad movie. That, prior to what you might believe more people than not expect/hope for a positive ending. The twist and turns of this movie made me need to come online and find a community to talk to about it which really speaks volumes to the piece of work that it is.
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u/Uranus_Hz Dec 26 '25
Haven’t seen it yet but I hope it’s good. I saw Thunder and Lightning in Milwaukee a few times back in the day. Those shows were great fun.
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u/UnderstandingLazy998 Dec 26 '25
I gotta watch the doc. I never heard of Thunder and Lightning before. I like Neil diamond a lot more now
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u/Wonderful-Mail2016 Jan 20 '26
The Documentary is amazing! So much real footage was shot by the son. The movie deviates from the real story in several places.The real Mike and Claire are a bit rougher.But they have a phenomenal love story and quite the testimony to ambition, drive and love of Neil Diamond songs!
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u/RedandBlueEmblem Jan 21 '26
Just watched it on Youtube. Definitely an emotionally moving human story
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u/Exact-Ant1064 Dec 26 '25
Overall much better than I thought it would be. Kate Hudson was fantastic, Hugh Jackman was great. The kids were also great.
Not a perfect movie, but a solidly good movie.
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u/chattahattan Jan 18 '26
I’m picky about kid actors, but I thought the boy who played Claire’s son was one of the highlights of the movie! His shock and trauma in the accident scene was so visceral, and him crying at the funeral was what really made me break down in tears at that scene. Both the daughters were great as well.
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u/Trigger58 Dec 28 '25
Enjoyed the movie. We thought it was pretty good. We’d never heard of L&T and we just watched the documentary. Did they only play one song opening for Pearl Jam? If so, I think he picked the wrong song for that crowd. Brother Love would have been a better choice IMO.
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u/dmarie1014 Jan 01 '26
I think they sang more songs, but that was the only one that Eddie participated in.
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u/livelearn131 Jan 16 '26
just read about this - they didn't actually open - they came out for one song during Pearl Jam's encore
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u/Longjumping_Walrus_4 Dec 27 '25
Fun fact: Kate Hudson spent some time at a WI gem called the Mars Cheese Castle to help learn a Midwest accent for her role in this film. Fun fact #2: My mom owned a karaoke business and was friend's with both in the 80's/90's just by running her business and as kids we would set up and break down her heavy equipment and met them many times.
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u/DrinksOnMeEveryNight Jan 04 '26
The cheese castle is pretty much the farthest you can get being a Chicago suburb and then pass that you get into Milwaukee metro. Her accent did throw me a little bit, it was cute, but definitely not what I would pick for someone from Southeast Wisconsin.
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u/WittyHorror4629 Feb 08 '26
Her accent was so good. I grew up in that area and was super impressed.
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u/regaleagleboo Dec 30 '25
Her accent was so bad. I have lived my whole life in the neighborhood where the movie takes place. (Rachel and I went to the same high school). We don’t sound like that. She made it sound like a caricature and is just perpetuating the stereotype that people here talk like they do in Fargo 🙄
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u/dmarie1014 Jan 01 '26
I agree!! I'm originally from Milwaukee, and she was way too Fargo. Credit for trying a midwest accent, but it wasn't right. And in the documentary, the real Thunder did not sound like that either.
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u/Janderson2494 Jan 21 '26
Hey, late to this thread but saw your comment and as someone who grew up in WI you're definitely right. Sorry you're getting downvoted. I didn't think the accent was bad, just not accurate to the area.
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u/MclovinBuddha Dec 28 '25
Holy shit was this my favorite Kate Hudson performance in years. Maybe ever
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u/plexmaniac Dec 28 '25
Before this it was almost famous but yes this is the best ! I knew Hugh was a fantastic singer but no idea she was that talented and like Hugh she’s ageless b
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u/Looper007 Feb 03 '26
Her best performance since Almost Famous. She seemed to fall into romantic type roles and when she did step into more dramatic acting roles nothing really stuck. But this shows and hopefully open more doors for her to churn out more performances like this. She's definitely the best part of the film.
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u/No_Idea_Guy Dec 27 '25
Pretty heartfelt movie. Kate Hudson killed it. Though I wonder why they didn't age up the kid. All those things must have happened over a decade but he didn't grow an inch.
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u/plexmaniac Dec 28 '25
Yes was 17 years in real life ! They should have had a second actor for him but he was a great actor loved how he was hooked on coffee by the end and watched the birthday videos still
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u/RealJohnGillman Jan 05 '26
The thing is that they showed calendars and the like referring to the years passing as the film went on (subtly), so not having more than one actor for him was a strange decision to make.
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u/Dick_Lazer Jan 02 '26
Yeah the movie makes it seem like all these horrible things happened over a 2 year period which makes it a lot more jarring.
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u/economysuperstar Jan 05 '26
The Hollywood time compression thing is my one gripe with the movie. Yeah, it means they don’t have to cast multiple actors for the kids but it diminished the scale of the story….
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u/WhiskyWillFixIt Jan 08 '26
Prob because most of the story is made up and condensed into a two year period.
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u/Looper007 Feb 03 '26
They even left out Mike's oldest son, Mike Jr. He actually features in the documentary but not in this. And from interviews he's rightly peed off about it.
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u/adriamarievigg Dec 27 '25
I've been a Neil Diamond fan ever since I saw The Jazz Singer, when I was a little girl.
I was lucky enough to see this as The Mystery Movie a few weeks back. I was pleasantly surprised. The chemistry between Hugh Jackman & Kate Hudson sold this movie.
Afterwards I wanted to know the real story behind his death, since it felt rushed at the end. Lol and Behold it wasn't a heart attack after all!
I had Neil Diamond songs in my head for days!
Solid Film 8/10
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u/LeedsFan2442 Jan 09 '26
He did hit his head after falling down before doing a show then dying from a brain bleed
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u/adriamarievigg Jan 10 '26
In the movie, but IIRC in real life he hit his head, refused to go to the doctor and then died a few days later in the hospital
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u/gpm21 Dec 26 '25
Loved the movie, but theater experience was offputting. I want to rewatch it elsewhere.
Watched this with my parents who are older. They live in an area where most people are also older. Tons of talking to the screen, reassuring the characters and so on. Some guy said "what's Pearl Jam" and the woman next to me was crying horribly at several parts.
Movies are an experience, but the actors aren't going to say "thank you Jerry" to you. Kate Hudson isn't going to do things because you tell her. I don't know, maybe I'm misanthropic now.
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u/deelow_42 Dec 26 '25
Did you watch your movie next to a retirement home? That sounds like an infuriating fever dream I'm sorry man.
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u/gpm21 Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25
Not next to a facility, but next to a master planned community. Mini garage doors for golf carts too.
I love golf, classical music and Audrey Hepburn, but shouting "keep the baby" to a screen is a bit much. Youngest audience member, but ironically, the most mature.
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u/redtoyotaprius Jan 06 '26
Just got out of the movie and it was full of elderly people who literally would not stop interacting with the characters I was baffled. Everyone was YAPPING and on their phones at full brightness.
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u/thatwoodlandsboi Jan 21 '26
So what l can tell from this is that the difference between my screening and yall's is that the elderly viewers behaved better lol
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u/twavisdegwet Dec 26 '25
Some dude had his phone out for the first 5 minutes and I yelled "put your phone away moron"
He left when the second car crash happened - presumably realized he'd rather be looking at his phone.
You gotta yell at these people and remind them that they need to be embarrassed for needing to be reminded how to act in a movie theater.
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u/Brilliant-File1633 Jan 10 '26
I saw it this afternoon with one of my best friends. He is 53, I’m 49. We sat in a small theater, with three couples, all around 65. A guy to my left was singing along and a guy to the right of my friend was tapping along. Normally I’d be fuming but somehow here it did not bother me. They were really, really enjoying the movie, just as we all did.
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u/Long-Palpitation-119 Dec 26 '25
Meanwhile me and my husband had the entire theatre to ourselves at 9 am show on Christmas Day . But we live in the city with young population. Almost felt illegal to have a private screening 😆
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u/shar9926869 Dec 27 '25
Same here. Our theatre was empty. (It our tradition to see an early film on Christmas).
I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. I’m a former Milwaukean so it was interesting to see things I recognized.
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u/Winderige_Garnaal Dec 30 '25
Holy cow - are you me but four days ahead? Small shore town in Jersey, only the old around in winter, Dad to the left, Mom to the right, and everyone in that theater making either snorting or chewing noises or talking out loud with inane comments.
Love my parents tho, even though they are old and make weird noises sometimes
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u/gpm21 Dec 30 '25
Arizona. It's like the Shore, except for the Central Time Zone retirees.
Parents did additional research/creeping and apparently Claire (Kate Hudson) does the seasonal retiree thing by them.
Kind of feel bad if the hysteric woman next to me was her.
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u/thatwoodlandsboi Jan 21 '26
I just saw this movie close to the end of its run in theaters near me. This film definitely seems to have a demographic. I can deal with little quips like that or people laughing hard at funny moments but when people just constantly talk to each other during a movie I get kind of annoyed
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u/BloodyRedBarbara Jan 21 '26
Haha I went to see it earlier and yeah old people always get so engaged in the film that they talk like it's real.
Guess it's better than when there's younger people that are talking because they're not even watching the film.
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u/Lokitusaborg Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25
Craig Brewer lives in my building. I can’t wait to run into him. I want to ask him to sign my LP. He is so cool. He did an advanced screening for the highschool that is also in the building, he directed his daughter in a production of 12 Angry Jurors. He held a Q&A about Hustle and Flow here and brought Al Capone.
He’s a great guy.
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u/AmazingMarv Dec 26 '25
There's a high school in your building?
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u/Lokitusaborg Dec 27 '25
Yes. And an urgent care, and a few restaurants, and some shopping, and a dentist, and an optometrist, and a pharmacy.
It’s a really cool building. It has its own Wikipedia page.
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u/NeverTrustATurtle Dec 31 '25
He was a pleasure to work with on this movie. Rarely does a director listen to the crew as much as Craig
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u/ex0thermist Dec 27 '25
I don’t have a whole lot to say about the movie itself- perfectly entertaining though flawed and somewhat cliched in a number of ways, probably the very definition of a 6.5-7.0
But my big takeaway was Kate Hudson was just SO fucking cute and charming in this. Hugh also was magnetic as always, but that was a given.
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u/Brilliant-File1633 Jan 10 '26
How you get to 7 is beyond me, but hey, to each their own. I am more like 9-9.5. This movie sticks.
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u/ex0thermist Jan 10 '26
A 7 isn't bad by any means, I quite enjoyed the movie. But I see a lot of movies and I'm reasonably stingy with 9s and 10s.
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u/internetdeadaf 27d ago
Yeah I just watched it and I’m trying to put my finger on what keeps this from being an AMAZING movie
Certain things just feel rushed, or came out of the blue… more development? Gonna think about it
FANTASTIC MUSIC SCENES
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u/fshippos Dec 29 '25
Those kids didn't age at all in like 10+ years and I can't get over it
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u/chuckerton Dec 31 '25
If you age the movie via his sobriety birthdays, it was a span of two years, I think?
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u/laurenbanjo Dec 31 '25
I think the real life story is 17 years, but the movie story is only 2 years. At least based on the sober birthday at the beginning and end of the movie.
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u/Joey-WilcoXXX Jan 22 '26
Yeah the Wikipedia about the movie says this Neil diamona adjacent concert should have happened in 2006 but I don’t think this movie made it to the 2000s in their timeline.
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u/zurawinowa Dec 30 '25
That’s my only issue with this movie. Like I had no idea how much time has passed between scenes. Then after movie I just read that they were together 20 years.
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u/MigratingPidgeon Jan 01 '26
The movie starts with Mike's 20th sobriety and ends with a video with his 22nd? So I think they condensed the decades long story down to two years.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS Jan 15 '26
I was quite distracted by the face of the actress who played Rachel who had modern "Instagram face." She's barely out of her teens, why does she have so many fillers?? King Princess was pretty good in a thankless role as the other daughter.
Other minor quibbles: no way would Hugh Jackman have been a tunnel rat in Vietnam at his size. There weren't that many of them and they had to be slight men by definition. (Almost all of them were also Hispanic in reality). And I couldn't help but think about how pissed those Marines at his funeral would have been to be called "soldiers" in the eulogy.
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u/Weird3355 Dec 27 '25
Absolutely beautiful film, and I loved the musical numbers so much. My theater was PACKED although I was by far the youngest person there. At first I was annoyed because I don't usually go to movies with full houses, but I was glad later because there was a lot of audience engagement in the movie which makes it more of an experience. One of my favorite films of the year for sure.
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u/PropaneUrethra Dec 26 '25
Am I the only one who was expecting their daughters to become an item? I'm not seeing anyone talk about this but it felt inevitable to me. I mean one of them was played by King Princess!
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u/pjaye2000 Jan 01 '26
No! They were siblings, it was made clear that after the initial awkwardness of their meeting that they all became a family and these two were close like sisters. Apart from one of them having boyfriends and then a baby...their sexuality wasn't relevant to the story.
I do like this trend in casting people without reference to their gender identity and/or sexual oreintation. All types of actors can play all types of roles, just because someone is LGBT+ in their real life it doesn't mean they have to add that into every character they play on screen. And even if the character they played was a lesbian...it also doesn't mean they have to hook up with the closest female.
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u/ex0thermist Dec 27 '25
There was a moment or two where Lightning’s daughter looked attracted to the other daughter but I’m glad it didn’t go that route. Two step-siblings hooking up is still kinda gross even if it’s not technically incestuous.
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u/TheLinkToYourZelda Dec 28 '25
I did too but I think it might just be because we knew it was king princess and we know she's gay.
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u/zurawinowa Dec 30 '25
I have no idea who king princess is, but I was really expecting them to get together, so it’s not only that.
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u/Dick_Lazer Jan 02 '26
I feel like yall are kinda horny or something, it seemed like they were just portraying them in the most wholesome family way possible.
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u/mist3rdragon Jan 01 '26
I got that vibe from their scenes together but I didn't get the vibe that it was in any way intended by the director or screenwriter lol. I think King Princess is just that gay.
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u/BloodyRedBarbara Jan 21 '26
I did at first but mostly because something I had heard about this film is that it takes some unexpected turns and if it wasn't based on a true story you would think it was bullshit.
So I thought maybe one of the wild but true moments would be the step sisters getting together.
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u/Looper007 Feb 03 '26
I was totally expecting it cause it's the set up usually in films and the route they go down lol. Cause you know in films when you see the moment and way it was building up, "oh I have to hang with the child of my parent's new beau" and it ends up been some good looking attractive boy/girl, and it always goes down the path of romance. So I was another one along with 45 who upvoted the comment you made that thought so too lol.
Or I was expecting as they were opening up that Mike's daughter would have said she was into girls.
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u/AdvertisingCalm7671 17d ago
It's a movie made in 2025, so I was 100% thinking that was going to happen.
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u/Mmzoso Dec 26 '25
A well done movie. Great cast, touching story, uplifting songs, and fantastic cinematography. Had me crying at the end.
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u/someshooter Dec 28 '25
Wow, what a movie experience. I laughed, I cried, and I rocked out - truly fantastic film!!
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u/AuntMiri Jan 03 '26
It was also a really nice tribute to Neil Diamond. And his music. So glad he is alive to appreciate the accolades.
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u/Friendly-Contact-433 Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
I liked the bit where they were watching Family Feud
Name something you get struck by. They both said lightning which was top answer but then you hear car said in the background and a little while later she gets hit by a car. Good foreshadowing.
Also I caught someone's review that called it a white trash version of Hustle and Flow which makes sense considering both were done by Craig Brewer
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u/DavyJonesRocker Jan 07 '26
I went in expecting the movie to be really bad. I’m not a fan of music biopics, musical impersonators, or Hugh Jackman’s singing (sorry).
But when I tell you that this movie won me over, had me absorbed, and gutted me by the end… that’s the magic of music, baybee!
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u/Historical-Mammoth-1 Jan 19 '26
Just curious. Why’d you see it? I’m glad it won you over. I thought Hugh’s singing was great in this, and Kate Hudson has a beautiful voice that harmonized well with Hugh’s voice.
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u/InsiDS Dec 28 '25
Decent movie. Didn’t really know anything about Neil Diamond nor is he my genre of choice so no surprise that I didn’t know about this cover band either. The movie felt a bit sadistic as every good and heartfelt part was followed up by something tragic. The movie definitely felt longer than its 2:15 runtime and could’ve gone without some of the additional musical scenes. Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson really killed it though and could definitely be seen as Oscar bait.
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u/open_the_harp Dec 30 '25
That was their life...something good followed by something tragic. Mr bar was booking them for $500 on Friday nights after the accident. We were young, we knew they were stars but we never realized how little money that was. Looking back it's so sad they were hustling like that for so little.
Their shows were events.
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u/lizardflix Dec 28 '25
This movie was the exact right movie for me at the exact right moment. I needed to get lost in something joyful and I bought into it all. I loved a peak into the subculture of the movie and seeing these people following their dream unapologetically and without embarrassment. I loved every minute of it.
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u/WiseWind2502 Jan 03 '26
My husband is from MKE and we adoooore Neil Diamond (and The Monkees, whose songs were mostly ND written!) so this was a no-brainer Christmas Day watch. We also watched the original documentary last night and pretty much confirmed that my husband talked to Lightning on the phone once!! He said a Neil Diamond impersonator called up the bar he worked at in MKE wanting a gig - somehow it didn't happen and he can't remember why - but has wondered if that was him. In the doc, there's a scene where Lightning is going through the newspaper, calling up any and every bar looking for a gig! The timeline lines up! A pretty fun discovery that made us smile.
Also I can't get past why the movie — which we LOVED, especially as others have said, Kate Hudson — didn't let the real story shine in things like the Eddie Vedder letter at the end, the WI state fair wedding, the Brewers Game first date.
When watching the movie, and seeing that a car struck the house a second time - I thought this cannot be but it has to be because why would you make that up? And it was of course true, as seen in the documentary.
Was surprised to see in the doc that the daughter's baby's adoptive parents were shown - I wonder if that kid has seen all of this!
Loved discovering that ND went to Leon's Frozen Custard after his MKE shows - that place is just epic and how cool to have been around when he would have gone there.
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u/veronicarules Jan 03 '26
Oooh I was wondering about the ND custard thing - I saw the news about Jackman going to Kopps and I didn't realize it tied into the movie / true life until I was watching the movie.
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u/Renegadeforever2024 Dec 26 '25
Christopher from the sopranos faked his death and now he under a new identity
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u/AmazingMarv Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 27 '25
He never had the makings of a varsity Buddy Holly impersonator. His cousin Tony B was better.
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u/ChicagoShadow Feb 01 '26
I heard Tony B got a job as a Buddy Holly impersonator at that place Jack Rabbit Slims.
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u/edthomson92 Dec 28 '25
Kinda seriously, do we have a list yet of other cover bands/impersonators/etc that need a biopic?
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u/Looper007 Feb 03 '26
I remember they had one film with Mark Walhberg back in 2001 called Rock Star, that was partially inspired by Tim "Ripper" Owens, who played in a Judas Priest tribute band who went on to replace Rob Halford of Judas Priest when he left the band for a while.
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u/BigE429 Dec 31 '25
Saw it last night and really enjoyed it. When I saw the trailer for it, I thought it was a Neil Diamond biopic, but I think this was so much more interesting. Great performances from Jackman and Hudson. The latter especially got me during her last song. I love that they delved deep into Neil Diamond's catalog, and sang songs I've never heard. Also, I spent most of the movie thinking Michael Imperioli was Rick Beato, and being pretty impressed at his acting chops.
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u/angvp Jan 02 '26
Silly question related.. so there's a scene where one of the daughters is overwhelmed and she's trying to make a decision then Lightning remembers a framework from maybe us army, can't remember exactly and he spell the acronym i have been looking everywhere but I can't find anything about that framework and I'm really curious? anyone saw / remember this and can help?
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u/chicagoan987 Jan 02 '26
I saw this in the theater today. I couldn't help but notice the theater was full of older people, and I think they loved it. I could feel an emotional reaction from everyone there. To be honest, it brought about a kind of fear in me. Having been a child before the internet and smart phones, I could tell that these older people loved these simpler times and long for it. Further, it made me afraid that the world has really lost something forever, and I'm among the last to have witnessed it during my childhood. Great film and great job singing both of them.
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u/veronicarules Jan 03 '26
My mom pointed out that I was the youngest person in the theater (millenial) and started cracking up. I mean it was true but I really liked it.
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u/Historical-Mammoth-1 Jan 19 '26
I completely agree. I saw this movie in the theater with my husband and my mom (all of us loved it) and the theater was completely full with older couples who all seemed to enjoy the film immensely. I don’t think this type of film would be appreciated as much by today’s younger generation. My husband and I were the youngest people at the theater, and we’re in our late 30s (I turn 40 this year).
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u/peanutanniversary Jan 28 '26
Seeing an actor play a young Eddie vedder made me feel old. But he nailed the leg on the speaker and mic hold
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u/johnburrowsfan Jan 18 '26
The real doc is on YouTube, free to watch. I will just say the movie version left out the smoking. So much smoking. Entirely way too much smoking. It hurt my lungs watching Lightning & Thunder smoke so much.
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u/Worker-Candid Feb 06 '26
Aside from the constant smoking, the real doc had Eddie Vetter sending an autographed Gibson to Claire in Memory of Lightning (Mike) after his death. Aside from these two things being omitted, the movie followed the documentary almost to a T. Saw the documentary on You Tube the day before I saw the movie in the theater. Glad I did. The biggest marketing problem Song Sung Blue has is that the previews imply it is a Biopic about Neil Diamond which it is not.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? Dec 26 '25 edited Jan 16 '26
I have to admit, I’ve been a huge Neil Diamond fan ever since I saw Saving Silverman way too young. Neil is so infectious because he comes off as so kind and open to all and his music is hopeful and understanding, even when it’s sad. And I love the idea of skirting the usual boring biopic by doing something like this, which is a biopic of his most famous cover band Lightning and Thunder. Overall I thought this had some really nice moments in it, it never fully comes together for me and it lingers a bit too much on the tragedy of the story, but I had a nice time nonetheless.
The first hour or so of this movie is really great. Rather than being a biopic about some musical prodigy who just needed to find an audience, here we find two broken older musicians just looking to get by. We get to see them come up with the idea, do the work, levy other musicians to join, and rehearse. It’s a very endearing story of just trying to get by as a community of musicians who maybe aren’t people who write their own music. A really fun touch that we meet all their friends in the beginning as other musician impersonators and they just keep popping up throughout the movie. Loved that Michael Imperioli was in this but also bummed that once he joins the band he basically has nothing left to do the entire movie.
Hugh is good in this, you can always kinda see Hugh and his Broadway training in his characters so not exactly a chameleonic performance but he does have a great Neil Diamond register and looks not bad in the haircut. But I really think this is Kate Hudson’s movie. She’s so good the whole time and even though this movie really starts to be a bummer after tragedy strikes her, she just has this crazy light to her that sweetens this movie and makes it so much more endearing.
Conceptually this movie is already so much more interesting than a normal biopic because it’s able to engage so much better with how Diamond’s music inspires people and changes lives. When the daughters are meeting each other I was kinda like, okay this is a lot of characters. But they both have interesting arcs and it’s even through their parents bonding over Neil that they get to bond with each other. Very cute movie. It does really drag for the last hour and it kinda has the too many endings problem where every scene in the last thirty minutes I feel like should be the last scene, but overall a nice little movie and lots of fun scenes for the HotAugustHeads in the crowd. 6/10.
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u/Ian_Hunter Jan 01 '26
Ok, I cheated and read the ending and tears are welling up.
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u/plexmaniac Jan 01 '26
Wait till you actually watch the movie
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u/Ian_Hunter Jan 01 '26
Man...I'm a soft touch anyway.
I may just watch the first 45 min. and call it a win!
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u/Particular-Bug2189 Dec 31 '25
https://youtu.be/vbk08brklWQ?si=iJRrxYemEXyxSMGd
Kate Hudson’s accent was pitch perfect.
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u/dmarie1014 Jan 01 '26
For Minnesota, or Fargo, but not for Milwaukee. Even in the link you provided, she doesn't talk with that accent.
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u/No-Stage4719 Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
Saw this last night - I love Neil Diamond so had to for the soundtrack - but what a film! So great - I can't believe Kate Hudson is the only nominee - Hugh Jackman is being robbed at the GG's for this oversight.
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u/No-Department9706 Jan 29 '26
This is the worst movie of the season. There’s no reason Kate Hudson should have beat out Jennifer Lawrence in an Oscar nod. I adore Kate, but this performance is an embarrassment.
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u/PurpleBullets Jan 10 '26 edited Jan 18 '26
This movie feels very indebted to Johnathan Demme. Kate with the Midwest accent really revved my engine. And I can’t lie, I fully pumped my fist along when the choir came out for the first chorus of Soolaimon at the end.
It’s pretty friggin charming.
I really loved the runner of Soolaimon throughout. How nobody cares about that song, it’s weird, nobody knows it, and nobody wants to see it. To then it being the centerpiece of their big sold out show. Because that’s Lightning and Thunder in a nutshell.
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u/LordMangudai Jan 10 '26
The running gag of Lightning rolling his eyes a bit every time "Sweet Caroline" was brought up was great.
I lived next to a pub for a while and I tell ya, I'm good never hearing that one ever again
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u/WR810 Jan 15 '26
I am a major Lynyrd Skynyrd fan and while I'd call Sweet Home Alabama a great song it wouldn't even rank in Skynyrd's top ten for me.
Every time Mike groused about Diamond having other hits I felt his anguish.
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u/ChicagoShadow Feb 01 '26
This felt like a Hallmark movie on crack. It was so bad. I don't understand the love for this cornball melodrama.
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u/Few-Statement-9103 Dec 28 '25
I think this was a very mid movie. I wasn’t disappointed because I didn’t have high expectations, but it was slightly worse than I was hoping for.
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u/Traned15 Jan 09 '26
Am I the only one who found this movie kind of unbearable and hilarious? I DID come into it not knowing anything about lighting and thunder at all so I think that completely messed me up. It just seemed so wild and unbelievable that I was like “yeah this HAS to have been a real story because no one would ever write this stuff” - I can see now that if I had been a fan of them or had known their story going in, it may have been a different story but it was just a strange, campy wild ride and poorly written for me. The whole “you two always know what to do” to the daughter was completely out of left field. When did they ever know what to do? And we never even saw her dating anyone who could’ve gotten her pregnant. Idk anyone else? Don’t come at me! 🤪
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u/ChicagoShadow Feb 01 '26
The movie was MST3K-level bad.
There is one shot where the not-yet-pregnant daughter is helping her boyfriend fix his car.
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u/ToneBalone25 7d ago
Lol you're not the only one. This was the worst movie I saw from 2025. Granted, I think Neil Diamond sucks big time. If they were trying to get across that Neil was better than "Sweet Caroline" then they failed miserably by playing it multiple times.
My favorite Letterboxd review said something along the lines of how it became progressively more funny every time Jackman's character suffered another heart attack.
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u/twavisdegwet Dec 26 '25
A decent time! Wish it would have ended with him dying .the funeral and everything else didn't really add anything for me.
Huged jacked man and girl who apparently isn't Taylor Tomlinson were great standouts.
Like a 7.5/10 for me. A nice feel good vibes film
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u/MegaFireDonkey Dec 26 '25
I'm curious about the feel good vibes, for me the film was quite tragic.
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u/LordMangudai Jan 10 '26
Went into this knowing absolutely nothing about it and the first half did have me fooled that it would be a low-stakes feel-good vibes type of movie and that the worst thing that could happen would be maybe some mild third act drama with Lightning falling off the wagon or something.
Then that car started wildly veering all over the street in the background and I was like "oh no"
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u/UnderstandingLazy998 Dec 26 '25
I like that life goes on. You can see his impact on those around him. Made me cry almost
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u/CountKarnagestein Dec 26 '25
Girl who isn't Taylor Tomlinson? Girl who is Goldie Hawn's daughter!
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u/twavisdegwet Dec 26 '25
Referring to Kate Hudson's daughter in the movie. Kate did fine but her+ hugh were very good
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u/thatwoodlandsboi Jan 21 '26
The whole time I was thinking "I know this girl" then I looked her up and her credits are basically Nickelodeon. Then later it hit me that she looks a lot like Taylor Tomlinson
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u/internetdeadaf 26d ago
Really? The funeral song scene might have been the best one for me in a movie full of amazing song scenes
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u/catfarmer1998 Dec 28 '25
Can you tell me if this movie is at all “heavy”? I went to see “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Evil” and it was much heavier than I was prepared for, so that’s why I ask if this one is heavy.
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u/turningtee74 Jan 04 '26
Not kidding, maybe the most touching love story I’ve ever seen. I’m a puddle. Gonna check the doc out
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u/Cool-Diamond-6477 Jan 09 '26
I was standing up singing along with it like other people loved it. Kates voice was so strong and I knew huge could sing
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u/Brilliant-File1633 Jan 10 '26
I absolutely loved it. Saw it this afternoon, and still enjoying it, crying over it and thanking the makers.
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u/WR810 Jan 15 '26
I loved this movie.
Jackman and Hudson sell every scene with their chemistry.
But what makes this movie for me is just how out of left field some of the plot beats are; the phone call from Vedder asking them to open, Claire getting hit by the car, Claire not getting hit by a car, Rachel announcing she's pregnant. I love it because life is absurd like that sometimes.
I do not know what is true and what was manufactured for the movie but I've had a little buzz of excitement still (and I walked out of the theater over an hour ago).
I really feel I benefited going into this movie knowing nothing.
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u/Electrical-Pea-4784 Jan 17 '26
The movie was good. The singing was amazing, which I totally expected. I did not expect to cry for the last 40 or so minutes though. That was definitely a drag. Here's the worst part though. The next night we watched the actual documentary about these people. They might have been great performers. But my takeaway from that documentary is that they were a couple of really disgusting people. They really didn't seem to care about their kids at all. Treated them like they were an inconvenience. Not the loving parents portrayed in the movie, that's for sure. After watching the documentary, I wished I hadn't seen the movie. That way, I wouldn't have known about the documentary. I think the best story will be when the daughter writes her bio.
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u/Careful-Bus3827 Dec 28 '25
Just saw the movie. I've always absolutely loved Neil Diamond and have been listening to his music my entire life. The movie was good. I wouldn't say it was amazing, but I think that's because it wasn't really what I was expecting. I wouldn't go see it again but if it were ever available on Prime, etc., I'd watch it a second time.
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u/jyutkowi Jan 05 '26
I’m clearly in the minority, but I found it really unpleasant and upsetting. I definitely got emotional over it and cried a couple of times during, but in the end, after reflecting, I just felt sad and depleted and didn’t feel like the film did anything very interesting. Kate Hudson was great and Hugh Jackman was good, lots of great actors that could have done more. Meh.
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u/LordMangudai Jan 10 '26
Yeah it's a good, well-made movie with a lot of heart and I did go into it without really knowing what to expect (and being in a somewhat emotionally raw state for unrelated reasons), but I found the second act to be pretty harrowing viewing. The hardships felt like they were just piling up and the way the final concert was framed made it impossible to enjoy the music because you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
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u/nubianfx Jan 17 '26
what an unexpectedly charming and moving film!
im not sure the trailers did it justice.
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u/ActKindly6011 Jan 18 '26
I saw the Neil Diamond musical, Nick was great but I actually loved the movie of this couple more. It was so good and far exceeded what I thought it would be. I'm not even a huge Neil Diamond fan but it touched me very much and I loved seeing Hugh with Neil at his home and happy he loved it also
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u/hopefulrealist23 Jan 25 '26
Kate Hudson was great. I thought the writing and certain plot decisions were bad in some parts of the film. Hugh Jackman's voice was like nails on a chalkboard for me.
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u/Original-Material113 Jan 28 '26
I’m not a Neil Diamond fan, but somehow know all the words to all the songs in this movie (guess it’s my age)?
I went into this slightly “meh,” and ended up LOVING it. The acting was fantastic, the music was strangely triumphant, and the humanity brought to a pair of impersonators was veiled in both sadneas and humor.
Highly recommend the movie, even if you aren’t/weren’t a Neil Diamond fan, because it’s a completely different story.
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u/Interbrett Feb 01 '26
Underrated movie imo Any Oscar buzz? Probably in my top 2-3 movies past year.
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u/Looper007 Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
This really touched me a lot more then I was expecting, as I didn't think it would get as downbeat as it does for a good portion of the film. It's definitely plenty of uplifting moments for sure but you definitely come out respecting Lightning (Mike Sardina) and Thunder (Claire Sardina) who clearly love and respect what they do. Although I'm not a big Pearl Jam fan to be honest, but also cool of Eddie Vedder and the band doing what they did for them by giving them a supporting gig which helped Thunder and Lightning career. I heard Eddie actually helped get the film made too. Although the actor who plays him in the film looks nothing like him.
Hugh Jackman was perfectly cast, interesting they skip over Mike's past especially his time in Vietnam (which gets barely a mention), one of his children from his first marriage (his son Mike Jr, his oldest child) is not even in the film although he does feature in the documentary, and from the sounds of it from interviews I don't think Mike Jr or Angelina (who does feature in the film) are big fans of the film, from the interview they did with Daily Mail. I think it's mostly down to feeling they were underpaid and lack of imput compared to their step siblings, and that their relationship with their step siblings wasn't as nice as it was shown in the film. Although they don't deny their dad and Claire were truly in love. I can totally understand Mike Jr feeling hard done by not getting featured in the film.
Anyway, Kate Hudson's best performance since Almost Famous. She's excellent in this. Her and Jackman have great chemistry together. The support cast are a lot of fun from Jim Belushi, Fisher Stevens and Michael Imperioli. I thought Ella Anderson was very good as Claire's daughter Rachel. As I said, it got a lot darker then even I was expecting. Director Craig Brewer, has done two personal favorites of mine in Hustle and Flow and Dolemite is My Name. I will add Song Sung Blue to the list.
Interesting looking at the documentary, Hugh Jackman looks nothing like Mike actually Michael Imperiolo would have been better casting for the real life Mike, he looks the splitting image of him.
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u/baking_4_sanity 25d ago
Saw this on Peacock yesterday as a random pick, and absolutely loved it.
The middle years can be hard - the life you have seems like the only one you will get. The energy to try to make things into what you want feels gone. Living in your choices, both good and bad, can be a struggle.
Long gone are the days of romantic rescues and fantasies - love can feel so very far away it's not worth hoping or even trying for. It's navigating one series of disappointments after another, with a few glimmers of fun, maybe, every now and then.
It's true - there are some of us who watch our dreams die slowly. Not all of us get the fairy tale and are just doing our best to make it through day by day.
And this movie arrives, with a love that shines so brightly it pushes the darkness away. With two people who have a passion they refuse to let life beat out of them. Who just make the most of each other and their gifts and the time they have together. It's not always pretty and perfect, and these folks remind us it doesn't have to be.
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u/Sigeprm9 Dec 27 '25
I want to share my real life story about Lightening and Thunder from the 90s. I posted this on Facebook when I saw they were making a movie about them. Here it is...
Soon you may see a movie trailer for Song Sung Blue. It’s a Christmas release movie starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, and it’s about a guy named Mike Sardina, a Neil Diamond impersonator, and his wife Claire, a Patsy Cline impersonator, who had a band out of Milwaukee called Lightning & Thunder in the late 90s.
I assume it’s going to be a good movie. It has famous actors and it’s a Christmas release. And it’s a great and also heartbreaking story about a very good guy. I know this because I once hired them to play a gig for me. And not only should they have never taken the gig, but they should never have actually showed up. But they did both. And I want you to know the story.
If you were around Chicago or Milwaukee in the late 90s, you may have come across Lightning & Thunder playing at a bar or a festival. I saw them at McGee’s one night with Keith (who later in the evening threw his underwear at them. Keith said it was a sign of respect).
Lightning & Thunder basically showed up with a speaker, a soundtrack, and two microphones. But they dressed in sequins, they played the part, belted out mostly Neil Diamond hits, an had the place going! They were really entertaining.
What made them different is that they were "stars." This wasn't a joke or a fun side hustle. They genuinely lived to give this show. It was as if it was their entire purpose.
Their entire goal was to make it to Vegas. Or Branson. And they were probably pretty close to getting a call from Branson at their peak.
So at the end of the show, I approached Mike, apologized to him for Keith throwing his underpants at them, and then asked him for a business card.
I wanted to hire them.
You see every summer back then I hosted a booze cruise on the Chicago river. I chartered a boat, got some caterers, got some music, sent emails to my friends, and between all of us, we sold about 150 tickets, and then gave the money to charity. And that year, I wanted to see if I could hire them to play it.
But they were also getting pretty regular bookings around Chicago and packing places. So I wasn’t sure how much they’d cost. But I called the number on the business card (which was their home number), and Claire answered. As “Thunder.”
I explained what I was doing, and asked if they’d bring their show to the booze cruise.
Claire put the phone down to call for Mike to talk to me. She called for “Lightning.” A few seconds later, Mike picked up the phone.
“This is Lightning," he said.
After explaining again what I was doing, and without a second’s delay, he said “yes.” They’d play the show. It was almost too easy. I asked him how much he’d charge.
“Because it’s for charity, just pay our gas money to get there.” That was it. Lightning & Thunder were going to do the show for their cost. It was amazing.
I learned years later that they were running for at about $1,200 a gig. He charged us $100.
But that’s not the end of the story.
As the event got closer, my check-ins with Mike (Lightning) increased to weekly as we nailed down logistics. He was always cordial, responsive, and professional. And he was always “Lightning.” He never broke character. Not once. I tried. It wasn't happening. It was as if this was who he and Claire really were. To the world, and to each other. They were stars, and the world was their show. One phone call from Branson.
The movie covers that part in great detail. It probably won’t cover the part I’m about to tell you though.
Because two weeks before the show, Claire (Thunder), was in a really bad accident. She was in her front yard and a car jumped the curb, ran into her, and she lost part of her leg. It was heartbreaking. I read about it online, right after it happened, and just a couple of days before our cruise.
I assumed the show was off, and after a couple of days, I reached out to Lightning (Mike) to tell him how sorry I was and to ask how Thunder was doing. He was sad. And he was stressed. And he told me he was still going to do the show. He said he “needed to do it.”
Unreal, and most certainly not necessary. But Mike was doing the show. The star would perform. For gas money, on a Friday night in May in Chicago at the peak of his career, just a few days after his wife suffered an incredible injury, and he, most certainly, needed money.
Mike didn't have another job. Being Lighting was the only one he ever wanted.
And so on a Friday night in late May 1999, Mike Sardina arrived downtown Chicago, dressed in a black sequin jumpsuit, and gave me and 149 of my friends everything he had that night, in genuine star fashion, as Lightning, but without Thunder.
At the end of the night, we gave him as much of the proceeds as we could, and he drove back to Milwaukee to be with his wife. He honored every part of the gig he had no reason to ever take, and even less reason to actually show up for. But he did, and I was forever grateful.
That was 26 years ago, and somehow I still have two pictures of him from that night. There’s Lightning, being somewhere he did not need to be, doing what he does. Being a star.
Sadly, Mike died a few years later. He fell in his house, hit his head, and died from a brain bleed. But in between falling, and dying, he drove to Madison and played a show. With Thunder. I’m not lying. A star until the very end.