Review of That Thing You Do! (1996) by King C — 13 Feb 2010

I had no clue that Tom Hanks had actually directed a movie until I saw this and the opening credits relayed that interesting bit of trivia to me. That said, I can see why Hanks has not directed anything since, because this movie is not all that great. The movie stars Tom Everett Scott, Steve Zahn, Liv Tyler, and Hanks himself in a small role. The story is about a group of small town guys in Pennslyvania who start a band during the '60s, with the movie chronicling their fast rise to fame and even faster return to obscurity. While the movie is not a definitive look at the music scene during the '60s, it does a good job of creating the look of the times and a filtered view of the music scene, as it does not so much as mention drugs or any of the seedy elements of the times.

Taking place in the early '60s, That Thing You Do! tells the tale of The Wonders, a garage band that sky rocketed to stardom only to come crashing down just as fast. The main character in the movie is Guy(the drummer in the band, which completely breaks the rules because in music movies, because the drummer is never the main character!), and Guy likes to drum fast and be all cool. One night Guy and the rest of the band are playing a small gig at a talent show, and instead of going with the usual slow drum beat that normally accompanies a song the band wrote, "That Thing You Do", he picks up the pace and gives it a more rocking beat, much to the dismay of the lead singer Jimmy, who is the main creative talent behind the band's songs. From here, the band becomes signed to a small manager, who then signs them onto a label and another manager played by Tom Hanks. The movie is pretty stereotypical as The Wonders rise in fame and get a lot of money that spend faster than they can make it. Eventhough the movie follows the basic rise and fall arc of a movie, it does not get too drama filled and stays light hearted throughout, so I enjoyed that about it. The comedy in the movie is not all that great and is mostly goofy, but it works with the bubblegum style, so it is not a major downfall, although the fact that Guy constantly references Spartacus was pretty funny to me for some reason.

The acting is pretty solid all around, and the majority of the cast do well in their parts. I liked Tom Hank's record producer character quite a bit because eventhough he was about making money and not artistic integrity, he was not a stereotypical villian for the movie and seems like a business man rather than an evil douchebag. The main guy that plays Guy is solid and plays a likeable protagonist for the story. Liv Tyler does the most she can with playing the required love interest(and this was back in the day when she looked pretty before too much plastic surgery ruined her face). Tom Hanks directing is also solid, but nothing spectacular. I guess he made this movie and decided directing was not for him since he has yet to direct anything else. Hanks also wrote the script, which is fine, but just like the directing, it is nothing spectacular.

If you want to see a little movie about music in the '60s that is light and feel good, this will suffice. It is nothing great, but it is nothing horrible either. That is my only real complaint about this movie is that it really is not all that memorable, which is one reason my review lacks a ton of details, because there really was not a ton worth remembering. This is not a bad movie, and is worthy of being watched on a rainy Saturday when there is nothing else to do or watch, but if you never get to see it, you will not be missing a lot. Thumbs slightly up.