That Thing You Do
February 12th 2009 17:26
That Thing You Do, 1996
After all, "happily ever after" implies that there's an end to the story, and that's just not realistic.
In sleepy Erie, Pennsylvania, a talented-yet-naive foursome band scores big with an instant hit. They get to play a few local gigs but then get picked up by the Playtone music folks, and enter Mr. White, a caring yet pragmatic manager who knows all to well what makes and breaks a band. If this were typical Hollywood fare, the band would be BFF and stand by each other, no matter what, and they would all give the company the finger or else ride to the top of forever with pinky-swears and everything.
But that's not how these things go. In fact, the illustrations of the characters really make you start to wonder (pun intended) what happened to all those other one-hit-wonder bands back in the 60s. And 70s. And 80s.
Tom Hanks used to be that adorable goofy guy. Now he's all grown up and using his Midas-like quality to turn anything he touches into cinematic gold. He takes chances, he knows how to massage a project well, and somehow he can get away with things that no one else on the planet does: If you pay attention to the deleted scenes on the DVD, you'll see that Mr. White is gay.
Whaaaat?!?
It was a plot point that was so insignificant that it was only illustrated in one scene, but in that single moment, the entire movie became about 10% more believable not just as a movie but as a really important story.
What does this say about our human experience, though? Is it enough to walk away from this film with the quiet fear that success does not come from talent alone but also from being a good person, and that sometimes that's not the case, either? That pride isn't the only thing that go-eth before the fall? That even if you're a movie-god brazillion-aire, you should still listen to your wife? (Rita Wilson, Tom Hank's wife, pushed hard for Tom Everett Scott to get the lead role as Guy Patterson. Hanks wasn't into it at first, but I tend to think that putting this guy up there was one of the best moves Hanks could have made in terms of turning up the endearing charm.)
If it weren't for the fact that the theme song (as awesome as it is) gets stuck in my head for months when I watch it, I'd probably watch it more often. It's one of my guilty little bubble-gum pleasures, and not just because I have a morbid fascination with Liv Tyler's lips.
4.5 Stars
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Comment by Jake 5
I'd have to say my drink of choice would have been whiskey from a flask
Drunk Rant
Comment by sam sall
Speech Starter
Health Matters
because when it first came out ,it didn't seemed to be entertaining .....
thank you for your review