Thunder and Lightning

Sometimes I watch a movie that's not universally acclaimed, nor talked about much by the mainstream media, doesn't get a lot of buzz on social media, none of my friends have seen it, it didn't show up in my recommended list on Netflix, and yet it's the perfect movie for the times that I'm living through and exactly the movie I needed to see. I'm talking about "Song Sung Blue," starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson (founder of the Fabletics line and renowned nepo-baby of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who actually turns in a great performance in this movie and received a worthy Oscar nomination) about a husband and wife team leading a Neil Daimond tribute band in Milwaukee, of all places. The movie is good enough to introduce a neophyte like me to Neil Diamond songs (it's not just about Sweet Caroline, apparently) and even to some others like Elvis or Patsy Cline, it's about a couple who are getting older (both have teenage kids when the movie starts) but still holding onto a dream of performing in front of others and making it big. Sound familiar? Maybe something this blog has been yapping nonstop about the last few months? The couple are so close to stardom and making it out of just the Milwaukee scene and even open for Pearl Jam, apparently big in the 1990s (nostalgia sells, as the film reminds us) but something happens that just derails the dream instantly, irreversibly, and not really their fault, just an act of God or like being "struck by lightning." The thunder and lightning in the movie refer to what the couple call themselves. It was a stark reminder to me at least that I'm not the only who whose dreams were dashed despite being oh so close to getting what I wanted. Every year, every day, every hour someone realizes that the dream they worked for for so long will never be fulfilled, that it was just a passing fancy, a passing cloud you didn't quite catch. At least for me, I have the rest of my life to look forward to, other dreams to pursue than getting on TV, and I didn't wind up in the hospital, or have to go to AA meetings for sobriety. The movie has really feel-good moments and good playlist of songs, funny dialogue, and kudos to higher-profile actors Jackmand and Hudson for taking on these roles of real-life people (that's the more striking thing, this was a real life couple named Mike and Claire Sardinia), but the raw emotion of the movie hit hard, when a lady in AA says,: "Most things just don't work out. Most times, you just mess it up, so it's easier not to try. We're all just looking for some hope. But at my age, hope is hard. Hope's not enough." In Song Sung Blue, the couple do get a second chance at stardom which feels sweeter at least for the audience because of how low they had sunk before climbing back up the hill to get to the top, and it must have taken a tremendous amount of courage and faith to get back on the horse hoping they might one day get another opportunity again. For me, I'm hoping onto slim hopes that I might one day stand on the Jeopardy stage again and get my shining moment that a bolt of lightning took away from me last time (or at least, a bout of "myalgia " did). Is it worth holding onto those hopes at a second chance, or am I the recovering alcoholic in AA, finally realizing that most things just don't work out and grasping at some straw of hope? Maybe Neil Diamond wrote it best, "I'm a Believer!" (1967 song by the Monkees)