Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue is striking a chord — and a few sour notes — with critics following its AFI Fest bow ahead of its Dec. 25 release. The true-story dramedy about Milwaukee Neil Diamond tribute duo Lightning & Thunder, led on screen by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, is being hailed by some as a rousing crowd-pleaser and dismissed by others as overstuffed schmaltz.
At Awards Radar, Joey Magidson says the Focus Features’ sincerity sneaks up on you: “I suspect I won’t be alone in rolling a tear or two before all is said and done.” He praises Brewer’s balance of humor and heartbreak and calls Hudson “best in show,” even floating her as “a factor in the Best Actress race,” while labeling the movie “a mainstream crowd-pleaser with real tearjerker elements.”
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Pete Hammond of Deadline lauds the high-wire tone: “If Song Sung Blue weren’t a true story, no one would have the nerve to make it,” crediting Brewer for never losing “the delicate tone” between joy and tragedy. He raves that Hudson is “simply sensational” in her best role since Almost Famous and says Jackman’s Diamond vocals are “flawless,” arguing the film is “real, emotional, and unpredictable.”
For Variety, Owen Gleiberman frames it as a kind of secular devotional: “This is a faith-based movie rooted in the holly holy dream of devotion to the church of Neil Diamond.” He likens Brewer’s approach to a “jukebox Jonathan Demme,” calling Jackman’s numbers “transcendent” and praising Hudson’s “let-it-rip acting with the fussiness burned off,” contending the film could bridge blue-and-red-state audiences through its “ecstatic sincerity.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney embraces the corn with caveats: “A sweet serve of feel-sad, feel-glad corn done right.” He calls the Christmas release “a crowd-pleaser with a ton of heart,” anchored by “winning performances from an ideally paired Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson,” and suggests the robust entertainment value and rousing music could fuel strong word of mouth, even if it’s “a bona fide boomer movie.”
The sharpest pan comes from Kristen Lopez at The Film Maven, who argues the second-half tragedies tip into exploitation. She calls the movie’s overall themes “overwrought and irritating,” labeling the film “white trash Hustle & Flow,” and lands on a grade of D-, quipping that audiences might be better off “drunkenly” belting “Sweet Caroline” at a bar.
Splitting the difference, Christian Zilko at IndieWire finds the movie “overstuffed and too melodramatic for its own good” but “hard to look away from the silly sincerity that powers the film.” Grading it a B-, he notes that Jackman and Hudson “pour everything they have into their characters” and appreciates how the film defends “the kind of life that seems average and unremarkable,” treating karaoke-level dreams with genuine respect.
Bottom line: like Neil Diamond’s greatest hits, Song Sung Blue wears its heart on its sequined sleeve. Whether that plays as a “winning love story” or a “white trash Hustle & Flow,” the movie is already inspiring spirited sing-alongs — and spirited arguments — ahead of its holiday run.
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