That Thing You Do!

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Starring	Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Tom Hanks, Jonothan Schaech, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry
Director	Tom Hanks
Year	1996
What it's worth		Second run (See it as part of a double-feature or at a dollar house.)

Every once in a while, an actor (or actress) makes a whole pot o' money. And he looks at his pot of money, looks at that pet movie project that caught his eye, and decides, "Heck, I'm going to fly this baby myself!" It takes a lot of talent, tons of work, and a healthy dose of humility to pull off a written-starred-produced-directed-by movie; too often, they turn into flat films that suffer from the lack of input or become ego tour de forces. But Tom Hanks, who not only wrote-(supporting-)starred-directed-produced That Thing You Do!, but also wrote a couple of songs for it, manages to keep his ego in check, the collaborative input high, and comes out with an entertaining movie.

The film is the story of Guy Patterson, a young drummer who joins a band in the 60s and, thanks mostly to his quiet leadership, rides a wave to a big hit on the charts. Guy is played by Tom Everett Scott, who obviously took Tom Hanks' every direction as gospel; I wondered occasionally if they had used some of those Forrest Gump computer techniques to put Scott's head on Hank's body, they acted so similarly. Guy's a... well, a nice guy, who loves his jazz, enjoys the band, and is the only band member who doesn't threaten to lose his head completely as fame comes crashing down around them.

The other band members are painted in pretty simple terms, and Hanks, who plays the band's manager, even spells it out for us. Jimmy (Jonathon Schaech), the lead singer, is a self-absorbed artiste. Lenny (Steve Zahn), the guitar player, is a goofball. The bass player (Ethan Embry), who doesn't get much more introduction than that, is a quiet fella none too long on brains. And revolving around the group, occasionally exerting their own gravity, is Hanks, the manager, and Liv Tyler as Faye, the kind woman who is Jimmy's boyfriend, but has caught the hearts of most of the band, especially Guy's and even, I suspected, Hank's manager's.

That Thing You Do! has no lessons to teach us. It is not worried about solving the problems of the world, nor in taking us to the edge of our seats in worry, terror, passion, or joy. Instead, the movie is what I'll dub an "innertube flick." Like riding an innertube on a creek, we just float along with the film, never horribly involved with the story or the characters, but enjoying the moments and drifting along with the plot. It's probably not a movie we'll remember a year down the road, but it's a pleasant enough journey while we're on it.

There's one important exception to make to that part about remembering the movie: the song. If catchy ditties drive you up a wall, avoid this movie like the plague. The title song is the tune that rockets these four kids across the country, and just like a band on the road behind the hit of one song, they have to play it over and over and over and over again, and I lost count after the dozenth or so time I heard it. You'll have the tune in your head for days afterward.

So, the next time you feel like floating down a stream, but winter chill is preventing you from actually grabbing a raft and heading for the woods, wander into a theater playing That Thing You Do. It's not mind-bending, but it's solid, kind, and performs well. Just like its writer-star-director-producer.

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