Hollywood loves to make films about musicians, especially popular or successful ones. It's likely that eventually a film will be made about each of the best-selling artists in history. We've had one about Elvis. In 2026, there will be one about Michael Jackson. The problem is that not every artist has a life story that's worthy for a big-screen adaptation. The recent film about Bruce Springsteen in 2025 is proof that not every successful artist's life should get the full cinematic treatment. Not that anyone's story isn't worthy, it's simply some stories aren't going to be a return of investment for a budget in the eight or nine figures. It doesn't mean that a filmmaker can't come up with an artistic way to tell a musician's story, but often audiences simply want a vehicle to play and enjoy that musician's songs.
That vehicle is a genre called jukebox musicals, which director Craig Brewer (Footloose and Hustle & Flow) has created here. Jukebox musicals often justify their budgets. There's a sliver of jukebox musicals that focus on one artist's songs exclusively. There's even another sliver that tells a story that is nowhere near biographical or a biopic of the artist whose songs are featured. Across the Universe (2007) and Yesterday (2019) are jukebox musicals of The Beatles, but they're not biopics of The Beatles' lives. Mamma Mia! (2008) is probably the most successful, cinematic jukebox musical that uses the songs of ABBA but isn't anywhere near a biopic of ABBA.
Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine and The Greatest Showman) stars as Mike Sardina, a former Marine and recovering alcoholic, living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served in the Vietnam War. He currently works as a mechanic. He's in his late 30's, early 40's, in the late 1980's. He has a passion for music. He plays guitar for an all-Black band called the Esquires. Yet, he also likes to sing. He's even developed an Elvis-like persona called Lightning. One of his favorite artists is Neil Diamond and his act is akin to artists in the same vein as Neil Diamond.
Kate Hudson (Nine and Almost Famous) co-stars as Claire Stengl, a single mom of two kids who also lives in Milwaukee. She's divorced and works as a hairdresser. She also moonlights as a Patsy Cline impersonator performing at events like the Wisconsin State Fair, which is where she meets Mike. She inspires Mike to form a Neil Diamond cover band. She becomes a member of that band called Lightning and Thunder in which she's "Thunder." She's a co-singer and keyboard player in the band.
Watching Mike and Claire be this cover band provides the structure for this jukebox musical. As a person who wasn't a fan of Neil Diamond and only knew his signature song, "Sweet Caroline," this film worked well on me. Diamond has a great songbook and this film presents a selection of them that proves why Diamond was a great musician or at least a great songwriter. It helps that Jackman and Hudson give amazing performances. Jackman has proven himself a showman due to his numerous roles on Broadway and Hudson stuns with her incredible vocal work.
It's not to say that Neil Diamond doesn't have a story or his own biography that's worth telling. It's simply that telling the story of Lightning and Thunder ends up being very effective, if not more effective than a Diamond biopic might have been. Mike and Claire's story might not be Earth-shattering or ground-breaking, but Brewer nails the emotionality of it. I don't know all the details of Neil Diamond's life, but it's unlikely that he experienced the things that Mike and Claire experienced, which are likely more emotional than anything publicly reported about Diamond. Without spoiling those experiences, those experiences are what makes this film the perfect vehicle for delivering Diamond's songs. Those songs are in fact used to punctuate Mike and Claire's emotional experiences to great effect.
Finally, Hudson was nominated at the 98th Academy Awards for Best Actress. Hudson is given a lot of emotional experiences to navigate, a lot of ups and downs. Hollywood loves stories about entertainers who have ups and downs. Those stories might be cliché, but Hudson is lovely and heartbreaking. She also demonstrates a range that brought me to tears that if I were an Academy voter would get her checked on my ballot.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, some sexual material and brief drug use.
Running Time: 2 hr. and 12 mins.
Available on Peacock.