The review:
Tom Hanks’s That Thing You Do is a gentle pleasure of a movie from start to finish, capturing all that was shiny about 1964.* In this breezy movie, Tom Everett Scott (Guy Patterson) is the anchor to the Wonder’s skyrocketing fame, while Johnathon Schaech (Jimmy) is a “serious” musician teed up to have problems with fame.** Liv Tyler’s big speech falls flat, which I’m blaming on the writing and not the performance,*** and there are a few things that cause discomfort in 2020,**** but overall, this movie is a good distraction.
The verdit: Good
Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home (as a palate cleanser after watching Monster. I had no idea I would get to see Charlize Theron twice in one night. She plays a girlfriend.)
Consider also watching:
Further sentences:
*This is a baby boomer nostalgia film for sure. Which doesn’t keep it from still being fun.
**More fun than the both of them: Steve Zahn as Lenny the guitarist.
***This is a male-centered film.
****There’s a little bit of Magical Negro going on with Bill Cobbs’s Del Paxton, and Obba Babatundé’s Lamarr would have been nice to have something to do besides be the cheerful servant.
Questions:
- How long will that song be stuck in your head?
- Which is your favorite time the Wonders (or the Oneders) perform “That Thing You Do”?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
Including full versions, alternative versions, live versions and snippets, the song “That Thing You Do” is heard eleven times in the movie.
Other reviews:
- Barbara Shulgasser, SF Examiner
- Maria Schneider, AV Club
