As you can plainly see in the Fenway grandstands every summer, people of all stripes love Neil Diamond. How could you not? Have a cold one every inning before “Sweet Caroline” hits, and you’ll discover how much you love the man’s ability to craft a stirring melody, especially one that annoys the everloving fuck out of Yankees fans.
But what people don’t like doing is paying to see a Neil Diamond movie — the man himself has been in three movies, including the remake of The Jazz Singer, as ill-advised and idealistic as you might expect from early ’80s Diamond (he singlehandedly tried to redeem one of the most infamous-to-modern-eyes movies in cinema history, after all). Each of them wasn’t particularly successful at drawing a crowd, but Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue might change that.
If there’s anything Brewer’s remembered for (aside from reviving Eddie Murphy’s career with the fantastic Dolemite is My Name), it’s Hustle and Flow and Black Snake Moan, the pair of music-movies he made in the ’00s. The former gave Three Six Mafia an Oscar, and the latter inspired approximately a billion faux-trashy Halloween costumes, provided one felt comfortable dragging a chain around with them all night.
Now, he’s teamed up with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson to adapt the true story of the Diamond cover band Lightning and Thunder, as told in the documentary of the same name, to the screen. Regardless of whether the movie’s any good, the soundtrack will probably kick ass, and you can hear it first by watching the trailer that Focus dropped earlier on Tuesday.
Peep it:
Here’s the official synopsis for Song Sung Blue:
“Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians (Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson) form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it’s never too late to find love and follow your dreams.”
Song Sung Blue hits theaters on Christmas Day.