“Song Sung Blue” (2008) is the documentary that the Hugh Jackman/Kate Hudson 2025 feature is based on. If you plan to watch the movie, hold off on watching the documentary which starts with a major spoiler for those unfamiliar with the real-life Milwaukee Neil Diamond tribute band, Lightning and Thunder, also known as Mike and Claire Sardina. Writer and director Greg Kohs originally wanted to make a feature about the married couple, but settled for a documentary, which he could elicit more support for. If you are like me, you usually prefer the documentary over the fictionalized feature. Even though the documentary is compelling, it is one of the rare times that the movie was easier to watch. The documentary is not essential viewing because it feels uncomfortable watching real people who are so raw and open in front of the camera, even though everyone featured wanted to expose their private lives to the public. This review will have some spoilers about the 2025 movie.
Consider yourself warned, but the 2008 documentary includes home videos, which are almost indistinguishable from the exclusive videos that Kohs shot, with the camera focused on Mike wearing tighty whities or the pores of his face with crust in the eye. There is even an almost gynecological view of a family member giving birth. If you are prepared for this almost naked and unashamed peek into their world, then you will be able to handle it. Lightning and Thunder loved to live out loud, and their fans loved watching them, so it is not a surprise that when they were not on stage, they busted out the cameras to capture every moment, the good, the bad, and the ugly. If they had hit the height of fame when reality television became more mainstream, they would have been naturals though their onscreen magic had a foundation of love, not conflict.
The 2025 movie depicts the married couple as more polished and contained than the real-life pair who would be called cringey now but were more unabashedly in love. For people in their second round, they acted more like teenagers at heart, which family friend Barb Motquin attests to. After a downturn in their fame because of circumstances outside of their control, the footage reveals their uglier moments with them yelling at Claire’s kids, Dana and Rachel, who were younger when the pair married than depicted in the 2025 film. The kids yell right back, which the 2025 film almost omits entirely likely because both films end on the same note with one big happy family.
There is no trace of Mike as the loving mechanic stepfather who stepped up and became inseparable with Rachel. Based on the 2008 film, Mike seemed to resist doing anything practical that distracted him from focusing on their music career. Kohs interviews other local artists such as Eddie “King” Roeser of Urge Overkill (“I’m not just going to get a job”), Debi & Mike Stanton, stage names Dancin Queen & Dancin’ Machine, and Damian Stringens of The Frogs who commiserate with Mike’s positioning himself as an artist and a performer, so Mike’s decision does not feel irresponsible. Still another interview revealed that it was an issue in his first marriage. Probably because Thunder moved up in the world financially thank to Mike’s homeownership, she cosigned the decision.
There are few to no one-on-one interviews with Thunder or Rachel. Lightning and Thunder are usually on screen together except when they are attending to their respective physical ailments then they are shown separately. Mike usually holds court before the camera, and the film is mostly chronological. As they age and are still determined to reclaim their former glory, it is less glamorous and successful than the 2025 film, which exaggerates their comeback and Mike’s health issues to almost cartoonish, dramatic levels. Unlike the 2025 film, the documentary only notes Mike’s struggle with alcoholism and his experiences as someone who served in the Vietnam War but emphasizes more how dire their housing situation was because the family was on the precipice of foreclosure. There are one hundred percent more animals in the 2008 film with a tiny dog and two cats, and the main complaint will be not knowing their names.
“Song Sung Blue” reflects an endemic mother daughter problem with Thunder and Rachel and Thunder and her mother, Grandma Stingl. One scene with the latter was awful to watch as Grandma Stingl watches her daughter like Smeagol and seems to relish and hope that Thunder will give up her dream and at least saves her best digs for her confessionals to the camera with Thunder no longer in the area. It makes sense that Mike opts out of hanging out with his wife when she visits her mother. There are exclusive interviews with more supportive relatives such as Thunder’s brother, Jim Stingl, who loved how Mike treated Claire; Thunder’s sister, Ann Knackert; and Dana. Lightning only has a couple of relatives in his interview corner, Don Sardina, his brother, and Angelina, his daughter.
“Song Sung Blue” shows more people in the duo’s corner than just their family. There are a couple of Milwaukee talking head scholars, Mark Shurilla, a Milwaukee music historian, and Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum, a rock and roll scholar, who opine about the couple’s place in local music history, which includes offering Mike’s musical origin story with The Esquires, a R&B group famous for the song, “Get On Up.” The Esquires are good sports and squeeze on a couch to contribute to an interview without getting their individual names noted for the record. The 2025 film may have overdid the Benetton nature of the duo’s life on and off stage, or the documentary just happened to be more homogenous. The fans line up to sing their praises, but only a couple get their name recorded for posterity, Art Gompper, a fan of Thunder’s Patsy Cline covers, and John Norquist, a former Milwaukee mayor.
Tom D’Amato and Dr. Dave Watson, Lightning and Thunder’s co-managers, Pat Watson, Dave’s wife and the duo’s roadie, and Bob Babisch of VP entertainment, which organized Summerfest, the biggest venue that they performed at with Eddie Vedder, also appear. Their genuine admiration of the couple’s talent made them devote their resources and time to help them reach the big time. It was a labor of love since they already had money and day jobs.
“Song Sung Blue” is remarkable for its access more than its artistry. Kohs was able to stitch together a comprehensive biography thanks to exclusive access, a willingness to embed with the family, and a plethora of footage of their performances, their wedding, television interviews, news broadcasts and montage family photographs. Kohs does get clever as he pans the camera from right to left shifting focus from Leon’s Frozen Custard, a favorite stop for Diamond when he toured the area, to Aurora St Luke’s Medical Center, which is where Mike was hospitalized and is revealed after that pan shot. Real life was heavy handed when a thunder and lightning storm strikes on the same day as the duo’s last tribulation. Their first blow, the aforementioned major spoiler, is more detailed here for those who leave the 2025 movie with more questions.
The one thing that the 2008 and 2025 film have in common is that anyone who watches either or both films may be at high risk of singing the titular song. The 2008 film is harder to watch and not for the faint of heart whereas the 2025 feature does not pull punches, but the glow up thanks to casting and smoothing out the rough edges of family conflict helps make the blows easier to take. If you do not have time to watch both, go for the 2025 film.
