A new film inspired by a real-life tribute act follows two working-class Midwesterners who build a life and a stage partnership through hardship, music and resilience. With Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson at its centre, it’s a reminder of how powerful a hopeful story can be.

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_Song Sung Blue_ is a film about two battlers – divorced working-class, midwesterners, one a Vietnam veteran and reformed alcoholic, the other a single mum struggling to raise two kids, who meet, impersonating singers as entertainers.

Who would finance such a hokey, down-market story? Focus Features said ‘Yes’. And what a film it is. Like the kind they don’t make anymore – a feel-good phenomenon, joyous, fun, inspiring, full of life and love with characters who leap off the screen and grab your heart. I was blown away, and the audience was lifted by the exuberance of the characters and the great music they sing.

The film is based on a real couple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mike and Claire Sardino, who were the subject of a documentary, filmed across eight years, as with resilience and fortitude they rose above economic hardship and shocking tragedy. They were entertainers who loved to sing together and as the Neil Diamond tribute duo, they gained a local following in the bars and restaurants of middle America.

This was a time, following the explosion in divorce rates during the 70s and 80s and women finding single motherhood was a tough proposition, when there was a national interest in ‘working it out’. But unemployment in middle America was rising as manufacturing declined. The epidemic of loneliness was underway and working people would gather in bars. This is where the duo found their audience, winning over the crowd that just wanted their beer.

The original documentary had its premiere at the Slamdance Festival in January 2008 where it received the Jury and Audience awards for best documentary. The Director, Greg Kohs, received no offers for the documentary following the festival so he distributed DIY DVDs for nearly 14 years. Craig Brewer saw the documentary, and as a film director who celebrates working class underdogs in his films, he saw potential in Mike and Claire Sardina’s story. The feature film, currently in cinemas was made as a result, starring Hugh Jackman as Mike and Kate Hudson as Claire.

Mike is scheduled to perform as a Don Ho impersonator, appearing at the Wisconsin State Fair. He quits, knowing the role doesn’t suit him. Claire, a fellow showgirl who belts out Patsy Cline numbers, suggests Mike impersonate Neil Diamond as he looks somewhat like him. They connect and form an act named ‘Lightning and Thunder’, a Neil Diamond tribute duo. Mike maintained they were not impersonators, they interpreted his music.

Mike and Claire marry, live together in a modest house with her son and daughter and Mike’s daughter visiting. They struggle through the day-to-day hassles of life, but live their dreams when they go on stage, in their sequins and sparkles, as Lightning and Thunder_._ They burst into life, radiate joy, and sing their hearts out. Neil Diamond has never sounded better. The crowds in the bars are won over, and Mike and Claire develop a cult following in their home state.

So, when Eddie Vedder, the lead singer in the rock band Pearl Jam is booked to play in Madison, he asks Lightning and Thunder if they will be his support act. Mike has never heard of Pearl Jam, and Vedder comes on stage alongside Mike and Claire and sings with them. The crowd go wild and Vedder would later persuade Neil Diamond to give his music rights over to the documentary so it could be screened.

This story may read like a bunch of clichés, but the film is a world away from that.

The lead actors, Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire Sardina have a chemistry together that is electric and intense; both giving outstanding performances.

What makes this film special is the emotional depth these actors bring to a story about a partnership that holds together as two people work their way through their triumphs but also unbearable hardship, and shocking trauma, supporting each other and their children. It is a story about the strength of family.

Neil Diamond’s music has captured people across the decades. Sweet Caroline, a song often said to be inspired by Caroline Kennedy, is sung at weddings and viewed as an anthem at sporting events; played at the Boston Red Sox games since the early 2000’s, and at English football matches, creating massive crowd sing-alongs with its iconic “bah bah bah”, chant. Kids know I’m a Believer – written by Neil Diamond for the Monkees – through Shrek. The music lives today; it is not simply nostalgia.

Song Sung Blue is about a true partnership, not like Blue Moon where male jealousy overrides long term friendship and professional cooperation. It is one in which love overrides potential rivalry as solo performers, and makes for an enduring musical collaboration. The two together make a bigger impact together than they would have as separate performers and that partnership exemplifying trust, reliability, honest communication, mutual respect and a shared vision held them together when the going got rough.

Both films deserve a viewing.