THAT THING YOU DO!
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(20th Century Fox) Starring: Tom Everett Scott, Johnathan Schaech, Liv Tyler, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry, Tom Hanks. Screenplay: Tom Hanks. Producers: Gary Goetzman, Jonathan Demme, Edward Saxon. Director: Tom Hanks. Running Time: 107 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG (language) Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Tom Hanks is a nice guy, the guy everyone in Hollywood likes, so you figure that he didn't get his first gig as a writer/director by demanding it. Not that he would need to -- getting on the good side of one of the most bankable good guys in movies is a pretty smart business move, so someone was going to give him a shot. It could only be a fringe benefit for Fox if Hanks' debut effort turned out to be a good film or a successful one, and it is entirely possible that they may have gotten both. THAT THING YOU DO! is a nice movie, and one which a lot of people are going to like, even if it falls apart at its conclusion.
THAT THING YOU DO! opens in 1964 in Erie, Pennsylvania, where young Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) is working in his father's appliance store by day and polishing his skills as a jazz drummer by night. When a local rock and roll band loses its drummer to an injury right before a big talent contest, the members recruit Guy to sit in, and he joins Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathan Schaech), Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn) and the bass player (Ethan Embry) in the newly christened the One-ders. Not only do they win the contest, but their catchy original song "That Thing You Do" becomes a local sensation. In a blur, the One-ders become the Wonders, sign with Play-Tone Records and find themselves on a national tour under the guidance of Mr. White (Tom Hanks). Naturally, success proves to be more complicated than the Wonders expect.
There are plenty of places Hanks could have chosen to take the conflict in THAT THING YOU DO! -- Guy's father resisting his son's music career, the deposed drummer growing bitter over missing the boat -- but by the time we reach a scene in which both dad and drummer are gleefully enjoying the Wonders' success it has become clear that Hanks is not interested in that kind of melodrama. THAT THING YOU DO! is intended almost entirely as a playful romp, and for quite a while it succeeds. Tom Everett Scott, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Hanks, is a charming protagonist as Guy; Steve Zahn, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Hanks' former "Bosom Buddies" co-star Peter Scolari (who himself makes a cameo appearance as a TV variety show host), is hilarious as mischievous, wise-cracking Lenny. THAT THING YOU DO! does a fine job of capturing the exhilaration of newborn celebrity, nowhere better than in a wonderfully crafted sequence where the band members hear their song on the radio for the first time. With so many films about real-life rock and roll stars focused on the destructive nature of fame, it is a welcome change of pace to find one which makes fame seem like so much fun.
When Hanks finally decides that he does need some conflict, however, he appears to manufacture it on the spot. There is at least an attempt to foreshadow Jimmy's ambivalence over the band's success, but he is such a bland character compared to his bandmates that he barely even registers as relevant. Even worse served is the relationship between Jimmy and his girlfriend Faye (Liv Tyler). Though it had been little more than wallpaper for most of the film, it suddenly becomes the defining crisis, and you are likely to wonder if you missed something when Faye goes into a tearful denunciation of Jimmy's inattentiveness. There is not a single scene between Jimmy and Faye to give us a sense of where their relationship stands, nor is there a scene between Faye and Guy to provide a foundation for the miraculous attraction which appears in the final five minutes. Hanks doesn't seem to know how he wants to end the story, except that he wants it to end happily, and the effortless good humor of THAT THING YOU DO! crumbles as soon as he tries to impose a structure.
The strange thing is that even though Hanks bungles the big moments, he does so many things right with the small moments that it is easy to walk away with a smile, beginning with a great title song which actually seems to deserve to be a hit. Scenes at a rock and roll show (with Kevin Pollak as a catch phrase-prone disc jockey/promoter) and a TV variety show capture the glorious phoniness of early 60s show-biz, and Hanks evokes HELP!-era Beatles with a montage of photo-op silliness. Hanks himself does solid work in the role of the all-business White, proving he's still a much better actor than he is a director, and a considerably better director than he is a writer. THAT THING YOU DO! is clumsy but lovable, the work of a nice guy who is far from finishing last as a film-maker, even if he has a way to go before finishing first.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 one-hit Wonders: 7.
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