Every week, Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel is looking for something like that, and he sure found one this week, just in time for Christmas. The movie in question is the crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping, and heart-moving Song Sung Blue, the musical biopic—not of Neil Diamond—but of a Wisconsin-based Neil Diamond tribute band starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.
Read MoreHugh Jackman, showing off his guitar-plucking talent onscreen with his well-known golden pipes, is eminently qualified for a movie like Song Sung Blue. His musical theater roots made him a cinch to be the consummate frontman for this jukebox musical. The more impressive revelation is Kate Hudson, bringing her lifelong piano skills and singing voice back to the big screen alongside her best attempt at a Wisconsin squawk. There is zero fake-it-til-you-make-it cheating or shortcuts with these two, and their combined charisma is dynamite.
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