I've always thought Kate Hudson peaked in the year 2000 when she got nominated for an Oscar via Almost Famous. I guess I was wrong. She shines even brighter 25 years later in Song Sung Blue. As musician and single mother Claire Sardina, Hudson channels raw and battered, singing and playing her darn arse off. "I wanna dance, I want a garden, I want a cat." You rock on sister! Rock on!
Now is Song Sung Blue the best flick of 2025? No but it definitely belongs in my top ten. It's a musical drama, starting out like an extended, small scale concert until it turns dark and calamitous about halfway through. And is "Blue" based on a true story that takes place in the underrated rock and roll city of Milwaukee? Certainly. But hey, it's more a true "love" story than anything else. Believe that.
Directed by Hustle & Flow's Craig Brewer and clocking in at 132 earned minutes, Song Sung Blue chronicles a Neil Diamond cover band called Lightning & Thunder (consisting of Hudson as Claire Sardina and Hugh Jackman as Mike Sardina). These songbirds, well they quickly marry and experience a rise and fall and rise again, populated by hardships, barbarity, and initial, rising success. Heck, you can just call "Blue" The Iron Claw of movies about pop impressionists. Mike is Kevin Von Erich and Claire is well, Pam Adkisson.
Pics about professional wrestlers and budding rappers aside, Song Sung Blue is hard-hitting and rather feel-good at the same time. The screenplay by Brewer can ultimately feel a little pretentious and cheap but the performances a la the whole cast literally cut through everything. I mean if you're a Neil fan you might at times think to yourself, "well I could've just bought an album with the greatest hits instead." But if you want to experience a second half dramatization that conveys a little domestic bliss danger coming right around the corner, then Song Sung Blue is far from being "unsung". Natch.
Written by Jesse Burleson
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