THAT THING YOU DO (1996)
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
(1996) **1/2 (out of four)
Tom Hanks is one of Hollywood's few genuine success stories, an actor the public continues to love even after turkeys like Bonfire of the Vanities, Turner and Hooch and Joe vs. the Volcano. His preformances are subtle and low-key, yet he's won two Oscars. It's his everyman, Jimmy Stewart-like appeal that is responsible for his success and makes you like him whether he's a gay man with AIDS or an idiot with a heart of gold. If this affable, charming personality of his could be personified as a movie, THAT THING YOU DO would be it, no great coincidence considering Hanks scripted and directed it himself. The movie is likeable, mild entertainment that makes you smile more than laugh and never offends, like Hanks himself. It is a nostalgic story of a fictional 60's band, the Wonders, and their rise and fall from stardom. The story is predictable and pretty much writes itself, but Hanks should still be congratulated for stumbling upon a topic of interest and fascination and coordinating it in an entertaining way.
As THAT THING YOU DO begins, the band's drummer (Corey from "My Two Dads" in his first acting gig of the 90's) has broken his arm and their friend Guy (Tom Everett Scott) is called in as a replacement for their show in a talent competition. At the show, Guy speeds up the tempo of lead singer Jimmy's (Johnathon Schaech) ballad "That Thing You Do" to match the dance pop sound of the Beatles. Suddenly, it's the latest teen sensation and the band is playing a local bar / pizza parlor.
The road to fame continues as they record a single on some church equipment, get a manager who works out of a camper and play a Pittsburgh rock show. That's when they hit the big time and trade off their old manager for a slick Hollywood version, played by Hanks. His small role in the movie is the only thing that reminds us we're watching a big-time Hollywood movie. The rest is acted out by people we've never heard of like Scott, Schaech, Steve Zahn and Ethan Embry as "The Bass Player." Liv Tyler, playing Jimmy's girlfriend, is the only other link back to Hollywood. Liv doesn't do too much in the movie, but she is definitely getting more beautiful with each movie she appears in.
There are a lot of scenes on the way to fame that are more cute than funny, the most effective of which is the scene when the band members hear "That Thing You Do" on the radio for the first time. Liv is mailing some letters when she hears it and begins screaming and jumping up and down. She breaks into a run, heading for the department store Guy works in, and meets another band member on the way. By the time they reach the store, two other band members pull up in a car and jump out. Hanks handled the whole scene incredibly, capturing the mixture of triumph and joy a moment like this would bring a band.
He handles the last part of the movie with much less skill. By the time everything falls apart, we know it's going to fall apart and we pretty much know how it's going to fall apart. The Wonders seem to be an Americanized one-hit version of the Beatles so we know it's only a matter of time before Liv Ono inadvertently breaks them up. But it's a fun ride while it lasts, and a definite strong showing for Hanks in his directorial debut. Even the song, "That Thing You Do," which we hear played eight or nine times throughout the course of the movie, is catchy and fun.
THAT THING YOU DO doesn't have the big laughs or thrills of the usual Hollywood movie machine products, nor does it have the drama or vision of a low-budget arthouse movie. It will probably be a big hit anyway, though, because it has the same innocent, family-friendly quality Hanks himself has been bringing us for years, even if his role in the movie is small. The Guy character, though, is obviously patterned after Hanks, with the same personality and many of the same mannerisms. It's no coincidence that his name is Guy -- he's the plain old average guy we know and love.
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