Neil Diamond might be one of the most successful songwriters of all time, but he didn’t really gain traction in Europe. Diamond belong to the generation of songwriters like Carole King, and like King he worked in the Brill Building, the hit factory of the 60s. Diamond wrote pop hits for The Monkees (“I’m A Believer“), and filled stadiums with older fans from the 70s on. In the 90s a hint of a revival when the hardcore band Urge Overkill was featured on the PULP FICTION soundtrack, which was ubiquitous for months, with their cover version of Neil Diamond's “Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon,“ and Johnny Cash covered the song “Solitary Man“ on his “American Recordings.“ Then football fans discovered that you can sing Diamond’s song “Sweet Caroline“ in stadiums. And now there’s the film SONG SUNG BLUE, a musical with Neil Diamond songs about a Neil Diamond cover band called “Lightning & Thunder“ garnering local success in Milwaukee.

Unsurprisingly, the film is super likable. First, because it was probably time about a film about cover band musicians. In practically every major city, there's one of these shows where, in front of a professional band that can play just about anything, fake Aretha Franklins, Michael Jacksons, Whitney Houstons, and plenty of Elvis impersonators perform. The business is a circus, but so is the end of (almost) every pop career. The musicians aren't stars, but rather humble yet self-assured itinerant tradesmen offering their services in hotels. Some also have their own bands and projects and hope for their own success.


Two of these people are Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire (Kate Hudson). He’s a sober alcoholic and ex-soldier with an adult daughter, she is in her mid-40s with a teenage daughter and a younger son. The two of them meet at a concert that a colleague (Michael Imperioli, “Christopher“ in “The Sopranos“) has organized and there’s chemistry from the start. Mike wants to rock, Clare wants Mike and most of all to sing. They start a band together that puts on a Neil Diamond show. At first things go badly, then better and better, then great, then tragedy strikes, and Kat and Mike have to pull themselves together.


Kate Hudson manages to light up the room, Hugh Jackman is an enthusiastic showman, and together Mike and Kate radiate such happiness and enthusiasm when they play the old Diamond hits that they immediately sweep you away. There’s nothing particularly original about SONG SUNG BLUE, the film has humor but not an ounce of irony and that’s a good thing. The enthusiasm about what Kate and Mike are doing must never be questioned. You have to believe that the songs by Neil Diamond could be masterpieces of entertainment, if not for oneself, then at least for these nice, humble people. SONG SUNG BLUE is fun and does become quite moving as well.

Tom Dorow

Translation: Elinor Lewy