Milwaukee Couple's Story Brought to Life on Big Screen

This holiday season, while Avatar: Fire and Ash, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, and Marty Supreme all dominated the box office, another, low-key musical biopic was quietly raking in money from an underserved demographic: 50+ men and women.

The film is Song Sung Blue, which is currently in its third week of release in theaters across the country. The story has a deep connection to Milwaukee, WI, as it tells the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina, who toured the country as Lightning and Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band.

**About Song Sung Blue:**

That's right. This is not a biopic about Neil Diamond. This is about a popular tribute band that played state fairs, local arenas, and more from the 1980s - 2000s. Mike and Claire Sardina are played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, two Hollywood heavy-hitters that have palpable chemistry on screen from the moment they're together.

More impressively, however, Jackman and Hudson actually sing and perform in Song Sung Blue. Their renditions of Diamond classics like "Cracklin' Rosie," "Holly Holly," and of course "Sweet Caroline" are excellent, and make the movie worth seeing from a performance basis alone.

Terrific Midwestern Representation on the Big Screen:

I'm not sure if anyone is more awestruck by this than myself, but I love seeing Midwestern characters and stories grace the big screen. So many movies are set in California, New York, and Florida that an entire enclave of the country feels malnourished when it comes to quality, silver screen representation.

Kate Hudson really nails the warmth of the Wisconsin accent. Despite being filmed in New Jersey, director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) and cinematographer Amy Vincent (Sinister 2) do a marvelous job at making this film achieve the look of the salt of the United States. My favorite inclusion was the wood-paneling in the Sardinas' home, which looks very specific to the 1990s Midwest. Just exquisite.

A Movie Bound to Make You Tear-Up:

Let it be known, however: Song Sung Blue has a plethora of devastating moments. I believe it's the saddest mainstream movie I've seen since The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron. It's well-acted, occasionally jubilant, and tells a great story, but the second half of this film revolves around the Sardinas' separate health struggles in intimate detail. If you don't know the true story behind Lightning and Thunder, you're in for multiple surprises.

Song Sung Blue is now playing in theaters across the country, including locally at AMC Dubuque and Phoenix Theaters. Read more about the film on its Wikipedia page.