Song Sung Blue

A glossy tribute that mistakes affection for insight

Tribute bands are affectionate nostalgia-bait for music fans, wishing to experience an older group in person. One of the most famous tribute bands known at Lightning & Thunder focused on Neil Simon and performed from the late 1980s to the mid 2000s. The group got a documentary Song Sung Blue (2008) and now have a biopic with the same title.

Song Sung Blue (2025) follows musical impersonators Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire (Kate Hudson), two divorcees approaching middle-age in 1980s Wisconsin. When meeting at an impersonating gig, they hit it off and decide to strike out on their own, embodying Neil Diamond songs. Mike is incensed that people only know and appreciate “Sweet Caroline” and wishes to showcase the many other great songs in his catalog.

Song Sung Blue is written and directed by Craig Brewer, his first film since the slog Coming 2 America (2021), and first theatrically released since the tawdry remake Footloose (2011). Brewer has been a seesawing director, delivering electric films like Hustle & Flow (2005) or Dolemite is My Name (2019), but also the face-palming sequel and remake mentioned before. With Song Sung Blue, the American director is pining for the mid-budget biopic of a bygone era. The film certainly has all the characteristics of a mid-aughts relic, with a crowd-pleasing script, borderline soap opera plot, and charismatic leads. In that respect Song Sung Blue is a meta commentary on cinematic nostalgia. Yet, Brewer as the sole screenwriter can’t deliver a story with much depth or characters that transcend their caricatures, as a result, Song Sung Blue remains a shallow and scant biopic.

Because Song Sung Blue isn’t following historic figures that viewers already have an emotional attachment to, the film has to become a character piece and delve into the dark recesses, contradictions, and the hard trial and error of being a working artist. Brewer, however, mimes through these requirements, leaning on cliché instead of divulsion and cringey emotional bait instead of raw exposure. The result is that too much of the weight of bringing character depth is left on the actors’ shoulders.

Jackman and Hudson are both charismatic Hollywood stars and in Song Sung Blue they retain solid performances, but are dragged down by the meager script. Both salvage great moments in small scenes, such as Jackman trying not to break down in front of a nurse, or Hudson’s depiction of bouts of depression, but they are too brief to chew on. The musical performances are fine, neither bad, but nothing too memorable either, with Brewer choosing to film them in as bland a manner as possible.

I may be saying something sacrilegious to Jackman fans, but I have to confess that I have never been a big fan of his singing. His monotone strained vibrato always feels as if he’s running out of breath, and his vocal range seems closer to the Rex Harrison school of sing-talking than the talents of an acclaimed theatrical singer.

In the end, Song Sung Blue is a fine, staid, and nostalgic film, that never fully dives into its subjects, almost holding them in too high a regard to want to weave through the darker weeds of their story. Their rise to fame is depicted as inevitable, where all their first choices are correct, making the story of the how in this tribute band, remain a mystery. The performances meanwhile are constrained by the tepid script, leaving a fair if forgettable film.

6.3/10