A sweet serve of feel-sad, feel-glad corn done right, Song Sung Blue tells the remarkable true story of a Milwaukee auto mechanic and his hairdresser wife who face hard knocks together but never let their dream die — even if it’s on life support during the toughest times. While that might sound like Hallmark treacle, Craig Brewer’s captivating retelling of the triumphs and tribulations of a Neil Diamond tribute act is grounded in real feeling and irresistibly rousing music . Most of all, it’s held aloft by winning performances from an ideally paired Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson , the latter doing her best work since Almost Famous .

I’ll confess I was an easy mark for this movie. A key childhood memory is sitting on my aunt’s living room floor — she was groovy enough to have

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