Time for another movie with a single Oscar nomination for an actress. I understand why Song Sung Blue isn’t part of the larger combination in the grand scheme of things, even though I liked it quite a bit, but I’m also glad it’s being recognized for Kate Hudson’s splendid work here.
Mike, a small-time Milwaukee musician, strikes gold when he meets fellow artist Claire. Together, they create Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute act. The band allows them to do what they love with the person they love, even as they weather a number of heavy personal struggles.
I went into this film expecting Peak Theatre Kid Hugh Jackman, and it’s certainly that. The musical numbers are well performed, equal parts entertaining and a bit (knowingly) cheesy. There’s low-rent glitz galore, and Mike has the casino-and-buffet crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. But there’s a lot that I didn’t expect as well. I didn’t know much of anything about the real-life Lightning & Thunder, so I wasn’t prepared for some of the traumatic turns their story takes. Overall, I think the film does a pretty good job of balancing the cheesy stuff with the sorrowful stuff. Mike and Claire are resilient but not unbreakable, and while they never stop caring for each other, “the power of love” can’t easily erase the bad things in their lives. The movie allows them to deal with things poorly—they get scared and demoralized, they make mistakes, and they let people down, but they also eventually find a way to get back up.
I enjoy the eccentric community of celebrity impersonators in the film. Mike and Claire meet at a “Legends” concert where she’s Patsy Cline and he’s supposed to be Don Ho (he’s not playing by the rules.) And while Lightning & Thunder is conceived as homage rather than mimicry—Claire hits the nail on the head when she tells Mike, “You’re not a Neil Diamond impersonator, you’re a Neil Diamond interpreter”—a lot of their impersonator friends stay present in their lives and are involved in different ways. This is a very different film than Mister Lonely, but I did think of it a little while watching. I also really like that Mike and Claire aren’t trying to become famous. Despite being big-hearted dreamers with enthusiastic imaginations, they’re fairly clear-eyed about their goals. They don’t want to be the next big thing, they just want to be able to quit their day jobs. They want to entertain people, and they want to earn enough as musicians that it can be more than something they squeeze into their free time. It’s a nice perspective to see from a movie about performers/creatives.
Another thing I appreciate is that this film is a love story about two people who are over 40. While I obviously get much bigger feels from Our Flag Means Death, for so many reasons, that’s one aspect the movie shares with My Show. The romance is sweet, endearing, and fun. I love when Claire invites Mike over for the first time, introducing him to her kids and talking a mile a minute as she tells her daughter that she didn’t think she’d get another chance to feel like this. It’s neat to see the chemistry in how they perform together, and even though they’re a Neil Diamond tribute band, 1) Mike never considers himself the main attraction and 2) the thought of doing this without Claire is unthinkable to him.
To that end, I like that Mike and Claire are dual protagonists in the film. I get wary sometimes when the lead actress in an Oscar movie is in the role of “wife of the guy,” but in this film, Kate Hudson truly does give a leading actress performance. She’s wonderful as Claire: she nails the music, she’s funny and rootable, and she handles the more dramatic sequences with complexity. All around, she’s great here. In a less competitive year, Hugh Jackman probably would’ve been nominated as well. Even though it’s not a stretch to see him in a showman role like this, he’s still very good, and it’s terrific to watch him and Hudson onscreen together. The film also features appearances from Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, and Mustafa Shakir.
Warnings
Thematic elements, drinking/smoking/drug use, light sexual content, violence, language, and a disabled character played by a nondisabled actor.
No comments:
Post a Comment