Song Sung Blue Review: A beautiful reflection on love and music

Spoilers ahead for Song Sung Blue!

Song Sung Blue was one of the most surprising and interesting films of 2025 for a plethora of reasons. This movie takes the viewer through the full range of emotions and reveals so many twists and turns atypical for a musical biopic. As such, I wanted to unpack all of that today in this Reel Ranker review.

I'm quickly gonna get my only little criticism with this movie out of the way before I praise it: this was just a little bit too long. I think I would've liked it a little better if they shortened it a bit in some places. I think there's definitely some places it could've been shortened. Just small parts here and there. There's not any particular part of the movie I think should've been, but it just felt a little too long for its story. Don't get me wrong, I want all the breathing-room moments and everything to be there still, just a little bit sanded out. Just like 10-15 less minutes would be nice. Not because I don't love the movie; it was just a little too slow-paced at a couple of parts that didn't benefit the film in any particular way. But that's just my opinion.

Other than it feeling a decent bit too long a couple times throughout the movie, this movie is just a really awesome movie all. This kind of felt like La La Land, where it starts super happy, cute, and fun, and devolves into something a lot more realistic and unexpected.

I don't mean to be cruel, but I feel people who are complaining about the tonal whiplash in this movie have never really lived a real, normal human life. True stories are gonna be the most whiplash-inducing type of movie you'll see, like 90% of the time. Those criticisms are quite ridiculous, in my opinion. I think the way it changes so much is part of what makes the film so effective.

Song Sung Blue was one of the most surprising and interesting films of 2025 for a plethora of reasons. This movie takes the viewer through the full range of emotions and reveals so many twists and turns atypical for a musical biopic.

While this isn't the most flashy or gripping film of all time, and if you haven't always been a Neil Diamond fan, it might not be as interesting to you. I was sadly in the boat who had only heard Sweet Caroline before this, but now it's nowhere near my favorite song of his after this film. I think the music in this film is fantastic.

Honestly, the music is an amazing touch, but the performances, characters, emotions, and realistically portrayed, not super sexually focused, more nuanced romance? Those were honestly all better than the musical performances for me, and that's saying a decent bit.

First of all, Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson were fantastic in their roles as the titular Lightning and Thunder. I loved that this movie was based off of a cover band, I thought that that was a genius move. It was a great way to make a music biopic far more touching and relatable. I love that they chose to develop this super smart premise into a feature length film.

Anyway, the other performances in the film were also fantastic. The family of the leads and the little gang of friends that the couple have (the dentist, the tour guide, the mechanic, the jazz band, and the Thai family who run the restaurant) were all such such fun characters. They really stole the scenes they were in, even though many scenes weren't very focused on them. I loved the scenes where they performed with the jazz guys in the garage, when the Thai dude sang "Holly Holy," and when the characters all went to tell Mike and Claire about Neil Diamond inviting him to eat... those were all so perfect. Just amazing, realistic side characters all throughout this movie that really added that extra sauce to the film.

Second of all, the emotions in this movie were just the full range of life, and I love movies that are like that. They just feel so much more human than movies that are so comedic or so dark. Anyway, this movie made me laugh a lot (especially the Thai restaurant owner and the guy who said "this is hot as Satan's balls"); it made me cry multiple times; it made me smile; it made me frown. It really takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. While other films do that better for me personally, that doesn't mean this couldn't easily be one of the most emotional films somebody has ever watched, especially if they love Neil Diamond.

The great romance also grounded the whole experience. The romance took a lot more nuanced, not too physical approach. While physical romance gets the heart pumping and stuff in a good romance movie, having a film that's all about the love and partnership just worked so perfectly for this movie. I wouldn't have the romance any other way here.

The Reel Ranker Verdict

Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 77%
Letter Score: A+
Star Ranking: 4 out of 5

Overall, this film almost perfectly executed what it set out to do. Trim this up a bit in the editing room, smooth out some of the rougher edges, and this would be a 9/10 for me. This was a really big surprise for me, and definitely can see how this could easily be somebody's film of the year! Super glad my dad picked to watch this for his birthday over some other movie I'd probably like a lot less.

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