"That Thing You Do!" Killer Track, with a Film to Go Along With It

 

    I kind of adore this movie. I don't quite remember how I first watched it, but I do remember that at some point I was looking for musical movies this one popped up. Intrigued, I put it on my very long list of films that I'd get to eventually, but it mostly stayed in the backburner. Until one day, a song auto-played after listening to a cover of I Think We're Alone Now, a fine enough cover by the Green Day front man released during pandemic boredom. That track was another cover by Billy Joe Armstrong from the same album, the track was called That Thing You Do!, and I was instantly hooked. I think that's the most defining part of this film. Just having a song so catchy it can be played seven times over in the same film, and you ever get tired of it. A song that feels so quintessentially 60's, yet for a film that was made in the 90's, and that is still catchy to this day in the 2020's. To me, that is why the film was ultimately successful, I think if you like the song, you'll like the film, otherwise, I'm not quite sure how much you'll get out of it.

    Directed by Tom Hanks, I was generally impressed by this film, especially on my second go round. The pacing is relatively snappy, especially in the first half during the boys rise to fame, and I never really found myself dried out by some bland scenes that felt too unnecessary. Really, my only comment is that the editing feels a bit off at times? Almost as if there were more scenes that had to be removed but really it's only a small nitpick. The writing was also surprisingly superb. Other than the fact that Guy seems to love quoting that one Spartacus line, which I suppose would have been accurate, I thought the humour was pretty on point. Whether it was the O-needers, or that crazy fan at the beginning, or the fact that the bass player never actually gets a name I'd say both my sister and I got some laughs in, which for a film like this is a bonus I'd say.

    In fact, I'd say pretty confidently that really my only gripe with this film is that the pacing is a bit off in the second act once The Wonders break up, and I think that's really just a product of the film not really knowing how to end. I mean after all, it's a film that serves almost as a cautionary tale about the perils of being in a band, and how easy it is to become a one-hit wonder like they did. Like T.B. Player literally just disappears off the face of the earth fairly quickly, and the same could be said for Lenny, leaving a generally abrupt ending. I mean they don't even do much in LA. All viewers really get is Guy meeting up with Del, which is mainly established just so the ending where Guy finally feels confident in himself as a musician can be set up.

    Other than failing to really stick the landing I'd say the movie does a pretty good job plot-wise. I do definitely think the part where Jimmy sort of becomes an asshole could have been improved upon, though I do sort of like all of the clashing personalities in the band. I just think it would have been better if the audience had more time seeing/meeting all of the other personalities, though I suppose it makes sense why they didn't. After all, the movie is following Guy's story, and the lesson about band's coming and going would make less sense if the band seemed more tight-knit, or the audience felt more endeared to them, or they stayed together for longer than 2 months. Even still, it was kind of nice to get that whole "happy endings" slideshows movies in the 90's were known for, just so that audiences knew that this movie wasn't ending on a depressing note. (On a side note I do think that whole Jimmy, Faye, Guy storyline was pretty messy and I'm not too sure how to feel about how it was kind of shoehorned in the end"

Final Score: 73/100

    A fun, solid little movie. I wouldn't describe it as feel good, or something I'd re-watch regularly, but it always manages to pleasantly impress me. Like I said though, you really should listen to the song before deciding on whether or not you want to watch the film, because how much you can tolerate the track will really help determine your enjoyment level. I mean I mainly watched it a second time because the song randomly came up on my liked songs playlist, and it is an absolutely killer track. I searched it up on Youtube, clips began to be recommended to me, and eventually after two weeks of trying to decide if I wanted to watch it I bit the bullet. And that's how I watched the film tonight, and I don't regret a single thing about it.