Movie Review: Song Sung Blue

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A surprisingly excellent tearjerker. 

With all the musical biopics coming out these days, this film attempts to do something quite different. Rather than tell the story of a famous musician, this film tells the story of a real-life husband-wife Neil Daimond cover band. 

Let's start off by stating that the music in this movie is fantastic. The husband multiple times states that he is tired of people asking him to play Sweet Caroline because there is so much more to his Neil's music than that one song (something I found out through his appearance in the ultimate rock and roll movie The Last Waltz (1978)). Neil Diamond's music is definitely better than some give it credit for. That is definitely heard here as this movie reminds you (or makes you realize) just how rich Neil Diamond's music catalogue can be. Not only are there so many great songs heard here but they are performed very well. With a background in musical theater, Hugh Jackman has a truly great singing voice and he does a wonderful job performing all these classic songs. Equally as great is Kate Hudson, who proves here she also has a really good singing voice. 

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are this film's not so secret ingredient. They are truly wonderful in this movie. They are extremely charismatic when on stage but also very human and vulnerable when off stage. They make every scene in this movie work because you believe and care about them every time they are on screen. Beyond this the story for the most part is quite well written. The first part of this movie plays a traditional biopic, while the second part morphs into a melodramatic tearjerker. Both parts work quite well. The first part is genuinely uplifting and makes you feel like cheering. The emotional notes in the second part all work quite well and many will tear up while watching this. Even during this second part though, the film never became too depressing as there were quite a few genuinely funny and uplifting moments in there as well.   

The movie does have a few problems though. I am not familiar with the true-life story but there were a few moments that were too Hollywood-like. These moments relied too much on convivences that they come off as too implausible for a supposedly true story. I also felt some of the side characters should have been better developed, especially the male lead's birth daughter, who I felt I never got to know the way I am supposed to. 

I came into this movie, not expecting much and was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking it.