Kate Hudson thoroughly deserves her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in Craig Brewer’s affecting love story about a Neil Diamond tribute act: Lightning and Thunder. “Lightning” is the stage name for Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), ex-Marine, alcoholic, and Diamond connoisseur. When he meets Hudson’s Claire, she’s doing a creditable Patsy Klein bit at the Wisconsin State Fair. They team up and are beginning to live out their dreams when tragedy strikes… If it wasn’t based on a true story (we played the excellent documentary that inspired the movie at VIFF Centre 15 years ago) you probably wouldn’t believe the twists and turns of fate that buffets our middle aged blue collar love birds, but director Craig Brewer (Dolemite Is My Name; Hustle and Flow) has a feel for working class American life and you can tell he cares about these people. He also understands Neil Diamond. As for Hudson, it’s a performance without vanity; vulnerable and authentic, funny and heartbreaking.
Bizarrely charming.
Amy Nicholson, LA Times
A lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour won’t prepare you for the way the plot repeatedly and savagely twists like an unsafe fairground ride.
4/5 Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Craig Brewer
Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Ella Anderson, Mustafa Shakir, King Princess, Michael Imperioli
USA
2025
English
Nominated: Best Actress, Academy Awards
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
Craig Brewer
Cinematography
Amy Vincent
Editor
Billy Fox
Original Music
Scott Bomar
Production Design
Clay A. Griffith
Art Director
Angela Stauffer
Also Playing
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.
Islands
In this sly, engrossing mystery, a dissolute English tennis coach in a Canary Islands holiday resort falls under suspicion when the husband of a beautiful guest disappears after a night of heavy drinking...
