I don't know why the critics were so harsh on this movie. I thought it was great. Without being specific to any one band, it tells the story of so many bands from the 1950's-1960's. This is the only movie I can recall that tells the story of how a local garage band becomes a one-hit-wonder, and how they move from local radio to #1 in the country, to oblivion - in a matter of (what seems like) weeks.I appreciated that the movie didn't portray anyone as the villain. There was no evil record company, no diabolical agent. It was the music business, and a band with a catchy song - each one made each other some money. How they captured the feel of the late 50's so well without seeming cliché - I have no idea,A fun, memorable movie.

In the mid-1990s, Tom Hanks was on the top of the world. He had just won two Oscars in a row and starred in the innovative phenomenon Toy Story. Frankly, he could do just about anything he wanted. So he went ahead and made his directorial feature film debut, a love letter to an adored era, the explosion of pop music in the 1960s. That Thing You Do is a pretty routine but charming flick like an alternate Beatles fame tale. However, the story takes a pretty straight trajectory. It rises, rises, rises, keeps rises without much interruption, then there's the fall, then soft landing then credits. It suffers from lack of meaningful conflict, instead just showing the cracks til the inevitable explosion within the band. It's okay for mild entertainment, just a little bland. Wish he chose a better lead than someone who just looks like him. Steve Zahn is the only zany highlight who livens the picture up. But it all hinges onto its title song, which is very catchy, if quite 90s. The disappointing thing about the film is it doesn't explore the joy of discovery in this early pop music. Instead, kids just nod when things feel right. It needed much more energy and confidence, but it's a generally inoffensive film.6/10

As many people have said, it's an homage to a simpler time. Love the small visual nods to "A Hard Day's Night" with the boys running through the simulation of the states. Also the hint of the same thing that happened to Lennon with the 'he's engaged' posting on the monitor. Of course, Lennon was actually engaged, if not already married!I truly don't get tired of this film. Just a feel-good movie. Also liked everything I read about how Hanks insisted that the actors learn to play their instruments well enough to look good in the film. Some of them practiced several hours a day.It's fun to see his wife pop in as a waitress where there's good jazz. Such a seemingly fun woman - but what else would you expect from Tom Hanks' wife? No, it didn't win any awards. But it's a 'keeper'. Watch it. Such fun!

I had seen this movie a number of years ago but didn't remember much about it, so I saw it again today on DVD from my public library. I was a college Freshman in 1963/64, when the Beatles were first gaining popularity on this side of the pond, and this movie fairly accurately recreates that period, the way people dressed, and how teenagers reacted when seeing their pop idols live in concert.The story grabs hold of a theme I am very fond of pondering, both in real life and in fiction stories. That theme is the relative randomness of our lives, the things that happen, and then how we react to those random events. If we look at random events in our own lives, we can see how certain unexpected things shaped who we are today.In this movie a group of high school friends like to make music, one of them writes songs and is the featured singer. He has written "That Thing You Do" and they are about to perform it in a local small-potatoes contest. But the drummer, horsing around by showing the bass player how to jump over parking meters, falls and breaks his arm right before the contest.Now that is the "random event", and it leads them to ask another guy in town, who is a good drummer, to sit in for that one gig, so that they will still have a chance to win the competition. Then comes the rest of the influence of that "random event", the drummer own his own (this is important) decides to beat out a much faster tempo. It is this faster tempo that makes "That Thing You Do" a hit with the audience, attracts the attention of an agent, gets them a record, gets them a contract, puts them on tour, and has their hit rise towards the top of the charts.If their original drummer had not broken his arm, they would have just remained an ordinary band. Well as the story progresses they experience all the growing pains of sudden fame, and conflicting priorities among the members of the group. Tom Hanks directed, has a part as a record label agent, and he even wrote many of the songs. Tom Everett Scott who was in his mid-20s is very good as the replacement drummer, Guy Patterson. Liv Tyler, still a teenager was Faye Dolan who ended up traveling with the band. Her boyfriend was Johnathon Schaech as Jimmy who wrote the song and sang lead vocals. Steve Zahn was the crazy member Lenny, and Ethan Embry, also a teenager, was T. B. Player the unreliable bass player. Another teenager just starting her career was Charlize Theron as Tina in a fairly small part, as a flaky girlfriend who dumps Guy after an appointment with a handsome dentist. Plus young Giovanni Ribisi as Chad , the original drummer who breaks his arm.All in all a fairly pleasant movie.