This old-fashioned movie is based on a documentary about a Milwaukee couple, Mike and Claire Sardina, who rose to fame as a Neil Diamond Tribute Band. Kate Hudson was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Thunder, and Hugh Jackman is Lightning. The actors have good screen chemistry, and they both can really sing! They do a great job covering “Sweet Caroline,” “Play Me,” “Forever in Blue Jeans,” “Holly Holy,” “I Am I Said,” “Song Sung Blue,” “Soolaimon/Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show,” and more Diamond hits. If you love Neil Diamond (as I do), then this one’s for you.
At the movie’s start Mike and Claire are both part of a group of musical impersonators performing at small clubs. She does a good Patsy Cline set, but he is unhappy being asked to sing corny songs impersonating Don Ho. After they become a back-stage item, they decide to sing together. She immediately recognizes that he can be not a Neil Diamond impersonator but a Neil Diamond interpreter. She plays piano and sings harmonies. He plays guitar as his hair blows in the wind from a stage-side fan; they make costumes appropriate to the act. They soon are popular all over the city and even are asked to open for Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.
The two marry and successfully blend their two families, two daughters and a son. But while at first the film looks like it is on its way to a happy ending celebrating their success, it stumbles on the way to everything turning out okay. Claire is hurt in a terrible accident and spends months in rehab, almost succumbing to depression and giving up.
This film offer us two common tropes: the characters’ rise to fame and fortune and the characters’ overcoming suffering and difficulty due to their determination, enthusiasm, and resilience. It’s one of those stories that mixes the sweet with the bitter – perhaps no more powerfully than in the Kate Hudson’s rendition of “I’ve Been This Way Before” (lyrics).