‘Song Sung Blue’ is a real crowd-pleaser, even if some of its beats are a little predictable. It has that familiar awards-season feel – a film about people living with physical and mental impairment, whose lives swing constantly between triumph and adversity. It’s based on a true story, and very much wears its heart on its sleeve.

The film follows a couple who make their living in the 1990s as Neil Diamond tribute performers. They’re struggling financially, sometimes barely scraping by, yet sustained by their talent, their love of music, and an almost stubborn sense of hope. They even brush up against the wider music world, at one point working alongside Pearl Jam, but they remain very much outsiders, living gig to gig.

As someone who genuinely loves Neil Diamond, I really wanted to embrace this film, and by the end I did. Early on, though, it occasionally flirts with parody. Diamond is a performer who’s often been caricatured – easy to imitate, easy to mock – and the film seems aware of that, sometimes leaning into the absurdity before pulling back into sincerity.

Kate Hudson is particularly strong, channeling a warmth that recalls her mother, Goldie Hawn, but with a darker edge. Her character goes through a profound psychological struggle that arguably carries more weight than her husband Mike’s story as a larger-than-life Diamond impersonator. Their band name, Lightning & Thunder, feels apt, given how often the film moves between highs and lows.

There’s one striking sequence that briefly veers into surreal territory: Hudson’s character performs a Patsy Cline song on stage, believing she’s delivering a triumphant moment, while the reality is far more fragile and disorienting. It’s a scene that almost echoes ‘Mulholland Drive’, blurring dream and reality before she’s pulled back – quite literally – into her true comfort zone, performing Neil Diamond songs at the keyboard with her husband.

The film is largely without irony. When they’re on stage, these characters believe utterly in what they’re doing – and that conviction is infectious. What could easily seem silly or ersatz becomes something genuinely moving. You end up caring deeply for them, rooting for them, and wanting them to succeed.

Yes, ‘Song Sung Blue’ follows many of the familiar beats of musical biopics, and it does sometimes feel like it’s ticking awards-season boxes. But its greatest strength is its generosity of spirit. It shows how performance can lift people out of their darkest moments – how stepping onto a stage, even in the guise of someone else, can briefly make life feel survivable again.