THAT THING YOU DO 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
Cast: Tom Everett Scott, Jonathan Schaech, Liv Tyler, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, Obba Babatunde Director: Tom Hanks Screenplay: Tom Hanks Music: Howard Shore U.S.
Some of us carry the burden of two jobs in our life time - the job we do for a living, and the job which we wished we were doing for a living. Then there are those who find the two are actually one and the same - how blessed are they.
So it is not surprising when a talented drum player (Everett Scott), locked in the confines of a stuffy hardware store, doomed to follow in the footsteps of his father the owner, breaks free of his paternal chains to seek his life long dream - playing music. Dreams become reality and soon the band 'The Wonders' is formed. Their one hit 'That Thing You Do' climbs the record charts at a record-breaking, phenomenal rate. This song is repeated so many times during the movie, that you will either be jumping up and down on the dance floor with the 'Go Go' dancers, or tearing your hair out with utter insanity.
Tom Hanks in his directing debut, has chosen a movie piece well suited to his genre. He seems to relish and thrive on anything 60'ish. Namely, the chocolate eating, mother loving 'Gump Man', or plummeting rockets of the 13th attempt which both fall somewhere on the JFK timeline. So where does 'That Thing You Do' fit into this picture - well probably some where between Vietnam and the Moon.
Hanks has decided to fill his movie with youth, colour and music. These new faces Everett Scott, Tyler, Schaech and Zahn makes the most of their opportunity to display their talents in 'That Thing You Do'. Knowing full well that this 'make it' or 'break it' movie could terminally label them as 'One Hit Wonders' or 'Multi-hit Contracts'. An adventurous directing effort by Hanks, who also contributed to the musical score of this movie.
Whatever caused the ultimate destruction of the 'Beatles'? Some people will say Yoko Ono, others will say anti-psychotic medication. Who knows? Maybe they just got tired of each other. In this movie, it only requires the selfish ambition of one individual, to destroy the web of friendship which was in truth the basis of this band's success. A pleasant movie at any level, but unfortunately, 'That Thing You Do' doesn't quite do it for me.
Pop Feel Scale: 0% Madonna / *THE WONDERS* / The Beatles 100%
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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