Mike Sardina is a Don Ho impersonator at an amusement park. When Mike refuses to come on stage as anyone other than himself, he quits right as Claire readies to come on as Patsy Cline. They have a conversation where she suggests he go down the Neil Diamond route. Mike watches her sing and is smitten. He heads home and puts on a Neil Diamond vinyl to practice with. They later begin a relationship.
After a bad first gig as the newly formed "Lightning and Thunder," a Neil Diamond tribute duo, Mike and Claire get married and have a string of successful shows. One day, Claire is hit by a car while planting flowers in the garden in front of their house and loses her left leg below the knee. She struggles and begins fighting with Mike, thinking that he is seeing other people. One evening, Mike's daughter, Angelina, asks if he has been attending his AA meetings. After a bit more prodding, Mike admits that singing does not mean anything when Claire is not there to sing with him. Angelina insists he needs to attend AA meetings, and he agrees. After having a dream that causes her to leave the house, the family decides to get Claire psychiatric help, admitting her to a hospital.
Mike begins looking for jobs again, while his stepdaughter Rachel admits that she is four months pregnant and wants to give the baby to a couple having trouble conceiving, but no one has noticed. Mike takes a moment and asks who she needs to help her, with Rachel admitting she needs her mom. Claire begins walking again and manages to come home in time for Christmas, reconciling with Mike.
She pushes for "Lightning and Thunder" to go gigging again, recapturing their popularity. She helps Rachel through the remainder of the pregnancy, giving the child to the happy couple. Claire and Mike also walk to help Claire strengthen her muscles with her prosthetic. Eventually, the Ritz in Milwaukee invites them to be a headliner on the same night Neil Diamond is playing his sold-out show, allowing fans of Neil Diamond to enjoy his music in another way. Mike and Claire agree to the gig, and later learn that Diamond wants to meet them in person, and that their show is also sold out.
Preparing for the gig, Mike experiences another heart attack, and, while collapsing, hits his head on the sink before hitting the floor. Mike and Claire wish each other good luck, and Mike tells Claire that none of this is possible without her and that she is his everything. The concert is a massive success, but Mike passes away later that night, and Claire sings at his funeral.
Some time later, Dayna plays a recording of his father singing "Song Sung Blue", while Claire plants more flowers in the garden at the site where she was struck by the car.
To promote the film, from October 3–4, 2025, Jackman and Hudson performed songs from the film live in a special concert presentation at Radio City Music Hall.[12]Song Sung Blue had its world premiere at the AFI Film Festival on October 26, 2025.[13] The film also screened at the Savannah Film Festival on October 30, 2025.[14]
Jackman and filmmaker Craig Brewer traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December 2025 to further promote the film. Kopp's Frozen Custard released a flavor called "Song Sung Blueberry," in celebration of the film, that Jackman served at their Greenfield location on December 2, 2025. Jackman and Brewer later attended a showing at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee.
The film was released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2025 by Focus Features.[13]
In the United States and Canada, Song Sung Blue will be released alongside Marty Supreme and Anaconda, and is projected to gross $10–14 million from 2,100 theaters over its four-day opening weekend.[2]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 114 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Bringing a sweet amount of dignity to the art of imitation, Song Sung Blue mostly avoids becoming a mere cover of the documentary on which it's based thanks to Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson's heartfelt performances."[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[18]
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