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Here is a remarkably odd, certainly enjoyable real-life tale from the heartland of the American entertainment world; a lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour does little to warn you for the way the plot frequently and brutally turns like an unsafe fairground ride. Personally, I found myself shutting my eyes and mouth open at certain key points, and was grabbing the seat in front of me tightly with my hands.

The Unbelievable True Tale

Mike and Claire Sardina, terrifically played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, were spouses from Milwaukee with kids from prior unions that during the 1990s formed a cheesy Neil Diamond tribute act named Lightning and Thunder; they became an underground sensation in their home state and even performed before Pearl Jam, with the band's guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them on stage for an encore.

But things were not easy for them, and this film broods on how tough it is when the lightning of ill fortune hits repeatedly.

From Documentary to Drama

The film is actually based on an existing documentary bearing the identical name created in 2008 by Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a film that was extensively on the couple’s family archive of homemade recordings. It’s fair to say that the documentary focuses more intently on the delusional and absurd aspects in the lives of Mike and Claire.

Yet this is not the approach taken by this movie from director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. He, Jackman and Hudson transform the mockery into laugh-with. Jackman delivers a masterful performance portraying a Neil Diamond tribute artist, sounding almost like him, and looking almost like him. He’s perfectly plausible as an individual not destined for in the big league but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to carry a show.

Standout Performances

Hudson likewise shines, doing her own singing as Claire, who before she joined Mike in the Neil Diamond tribute world enjoyed a successful career performing as Patsy Cline. She is shown belting out Cline numbers, even though one particular iconic Cline tune is curiously omitted from this movie.

Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly tribute artist named Mark, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown performer known as Sex Machine. The role of Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess portrays Mike's daughter Angelina of about the same age – with their developing friendship is another underplayed aspect contributing to the movie's charm.

The Core Narrative

Irony and satire have been meticulously excised from the account of Mike and Claire's heart-stoppingly eventful life stories, and in their place Brewer substitutes those attributes which the pair personally would have been aware of: the fragility and isolation of trying to make it in the margins of the music business, or for that matter succeeding in any field and in any business.

It is a never-say-die story and its bright hopefulness renders it a calorific Christmas treat.

Song Sung Blue is out on 25 December in the US and 1 January in Australia and the United Kingdom.