When he meets Claire (Kate Hudson), Mike (Hugh Jackman) is a recovering alcoholic trying to make it in the music business. Performing under the name “Lightning,” he keeps being asked to impersonate performers he doesn’t look up to, like Don Ho. One night on a gig at the Wisconsin State Fair, he meets Claire, a fellow tribute-circuit performer. Looking sassy in a western getup and curly brunette wig, she’s transformed herself into Patsy Cline and has the voice to match. The two are drawn together immediately by their shared love of music, and they not only wind up playing music together but merging their families and forming a life.

For a while, the major drama of the film revolves around Mike’s wanting to open the duo’s show with the low-key but intense Neil Diamond number “Soolaimon,” while everyone around him insists the audience only wants to hear “Sweet Caroline.” But the true-ish story, based on the many anecdotes that swirl around the real Milwaukee-area tribute band, Lightning & Thunder, takes some real twists and turns. This is a heart-melter of a movie, in which Jackman will make you smile as the larger-than-life Mike. And it is no surprise that Hudson, long pigeonholed as a rom-com star, is nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as this music-loving Midwestern mom. Hitting every beat, Song Sung Blue is the movie you didn’t know you wanted to see. A story about regular people getting through tough times, it doesn’t make the case that Mike and Claire are great artists, or even that Diamond himself is. But it does make a very winning case that art doesn’t have to be great to make an impact.

(US / 2025 / Directed by Craig Brewer)
PG-13 / 2 hrs 12 mins