Here, in essence, are two old-school TV movies welded together in a professional package that proves more entertaining than sitting quietly in the dark. (It’s maybe even a bit better than that.)
The first details the improbable yet true story of a Neil Diamond tribute act who, in the 1990s, escaped Wisconsin’s lounge bars to support the likes of Pearl Jam at sizeable venues. The second half details the duo’s recovery after an almost career-ending tragedy.
You sense this lachrymose yarn – with a second big musical finale following a fist-pumping first – believes very much in its own irresistibility. That such a claim proves borderline justified is mostly down to bravura performances from two old troopers and charming ones from two committed youngsters.
Hugh Jackman is gruffly merry as the singer Mike Sardina, a recovering alcoholic at work in the nostalgia business, who, until he meets plucky Claire Stingl (Kate Hudson), a Patsy Cline specialist, baulks at the notion of going full tribute act. With the support of local oddballs played by Michael Imperioli and Jim Belushi, among others, they polish up their Diamond and set forth under the name Lightning and Thunder.
READ MORE
Craig Brewer’s film is surely pushing at an open door as, prompted by Mike’s frustration at musically uneducated audiences, it argues that Diamond deserves to be respected for more than Sweet Caroline. Surely the world all knows Forever in Blue Jeans and Song Sung Blue.
Anyway, Hudson and Jackman combine for genuinely stirring versions of the Diamond oeuvre as the film heads towards its core crisis. The director’s script suffers from being just a little too fond of its characters. Both Mike and Claire, who end up married, have endured significant hardships, but, in the opening sections at least, these middle-aged strivers come across as implausibly naive sweethearts.
Indeed (maybe this is the idea), Ella Anderson and King Princess, excellent as children of the couple’s first marriages, seem more connected to mature emotions.
It is all very on the nose. It’s all shamelessly manipulative. Mind you, a cynic might argue you could say the same of Diamond’s best songs. And there’s nothing wrong with a hatful of Neil.
In cinemas from New Year’s Day
