‘Song Sung Blue’ Was Bad, Watch the Real Documentary For Free Instead
Although you might imagine “Song Sung Blue” is a Neil Diamond biopic, it is not. The confusingly-named movie starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson is actually the story of a Neil Diamond impersonator named Mike Sardina.
Sardina (Jackman) likes to call himself “Lightning,” and he soon falls in love with a Patsy Cline impersonator named Claire. He gives her the nickname “Thunder.” Before long, Lightning and Thunder begin traveling with their musical act, performing for bar patrons throughout the upper Midwest.
Despite wild overacting and a Wisconsin accent that borders on offensive, Kate Hudson is somehow nominated for an Oscar for her performance. You can watch the movie now on Peacock.
$16.99/mo.
But here’s the thing: the real story is so much better. And you can watch a documentary about it on YouTube for free.
Here are some of the key differences:
| Hugh Jackman version (2025) | Documentary |
|---|---|
| Mike is a little kooky. | Mike is legitimately unhinged. |
| Claire is a ray of sunshine, except when wallowing in hysterical self-loathing. | Claire is an upbeat, slow-moving train wreck. |
| The family is packed with plucky underdogs! | The family seems like they just fell off the Jerry Springer set. |
| Mike convinces a big group of musicians to back him. | Just Mike on guitar and Claire on the keyboard. |
| Attractive people trying to look unattractive. | Real Midwest bodies in all their sedentary glory. |
| Crowds full of actors pretending to enjoy the show. | Real, drunken crowds feeding off Mike’s manic energy. |
| A mildly depressing, lower-income house. | They live in a cluttered, claustrophobic death trap. |
| Only substance abuse is a prescription drug subplot (Oscar bait!) | Relentless chain-smoking and coffee chugging (advocated for weight loss!) |
| General family harmony. | A physical altercation over going to Denny’s instead of Ponderosa. |
Here’s the thing. I live in the Midwest. I know these kinds of people. They are fantastic. They’re resilient. They’re definitely mentally ill on some level. But when they hit that stage, their talent level doesn’t matter because they are full of an infectious love for what they do. An audience feeds off it.
In the case of the real Lightning and Thunder, the people of Milwaukee embraced them not because they have world-class talent but because they worked hard and they were local. Midwesterners love local eccentrics because most of us have more in common with them than the real Niel Diamonds of the world.
The documentary “Song Sung Blue” is a warts-and-all celebration of the bottom rung on the ladder of fame. The Hollywood “Song Sung Blue” is a sanitized rags-to-slightly-better-rags story. You never really buy Hugh Jackman as a down-on-his-luck character. The real Mike Sardina is endlessly watchable as he chain-smokes in his very un-tighty whities and dreams of making it in Las Vegas or Branson, Missouri.
If you enjoy the true story, I’d recommend another great Midwestern documentary: “American Movie.” It’s the story of another dreamer named Mark Borchardt, who enlists his band of misfit friends to make a very bad horror movie. It’s funny and heartbreaking and inspiring. America is littered with would-be artists buried under unpaid credit card bills in rust belt cities where factories used to hum. Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson know nothing of this world.
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