That Thing You Do . Tucson Weekly . 10-17-96

That Thing You Do

DIRECTED BY: Tom Hanks

REVIEWED: 10-17-96

Tom Hanks wrote and directed this one (yes, he's in it too), and it seems like just the kind of thing Hanks would produce: It's cute, endearing, and utterly without tension or meaning. The core idea for this movie though, is great. It traces the rise and fall of a little rock and roll band from Pennsylvania during the mid-sixties; a "one-hit wonder" group that rocked the charts for a few weeks, then disappeared from view. The young cast is adorable, the music is infectious (we get to hear that one hit, the eponymous "That Thing You Do," something like 11 times), and the sixties sets, costumes and cars are a pleasure to look at. There's not much conflict, though, and the character Hanks plays, the record company representative, never really sorts himself out as being for the band or against it. This fuzziness makes That Thing You Do a little boring at times, and the speech Liv Tyler gives about wasted kisses is absolutely humiliating, but this movie is so good-natured that it's hard not to like it at least a little.

--Stacey Richter

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That Thing You Do

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That Thing You Do

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