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Listen to a sample of
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The Story
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For drummer Guy Patterson and the One-ders, a broken wrist propels the band to the top of the charts with their smash hit "That Thing You Do". This is the story of a garage band set in the mid-sixties trying to make it big. Fortune smiles on them when their drummer breaks his arm, forcing the guys to find a replacement drummer. During a talent contest the new drummer, Guy, plays a ballad a little too vigorously, setting into motion their meteoric rise to the top. |
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The Cast
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This ensemble couldn't have been cast any better. Ethan Embry is well cast as the bands' nameless bass player ( "T.B. Player" in the ending credits ). His character is quiet an unassuming and disappears mid way through the film to join the U.S Marines. Unfortunately, he is not missed as this character was not nearly as well developed as he could have been. The character of Lenny Haise ( Steve Zahn ) is performed with all of the gusto that Zahn puts into most of the quirky characters that he portrays. Zahn is quickly becoming one of my favorite character actors ( see Saving Silverman, Boys On the Side ). Johnathon Schaech as James "Jimmy" Mattingly II is simply depressing. The character is simply a jerk - enough said. |
| The absolutely beautiful Liv Tyler as Faye Dolan is wasted in this picture. Faye is Jimmy's girlfriend, who fawns over him unable to see his many flaws. It's quite apparent to anyone who is paying attention that their relationship is doomed from the very beginning, which is a shame because she does virtually nothing until near the end when she figures out that it's really Guy she should be with. Guy Patterson ( Tom Everett Scott ) is the most developed character in the film. Obviously modeled after a young Tom Hanks, Guy is the soul of the band and certainly the most interesting. |
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The lovely Charlize Theron plays a bit part as Tina, Guy's girlfriend in the first 20 minutes of the picture. It would have been more satisfying to see a love triangle of some sort developing between Guy, Tina and Faye rather than have her simply fall in love with her dentist and disappear. Or we could have pawned her off on Jimmy, creating a secondary "Jimmy-Tina-Faye" kind of thing ....a tremendous waste of talent here. Finally, Tom Hanks as Mr. White. Mr. White takes over as the groups manager when they sign with Play Tone records. He travels with them, making sure that all goes well on the road and lines up a movie and a TV performance. Despite all of his good efforts, the band implodes, leaving him with yet another "One Hit Wonder". |
Special FX / Sound
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There are virtually no special effects ( that I can see ) in this film, but the sound quality is great! I'm so tired of having to man my remote when watching most movies at home on my DVD player. This one is a pleasure, set the volume to your favorite level and enjoy! |
Directing
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That Thing You Do! was Tom Hanks motion picture directorial debut (he'd already directed four TV projects to that point). I have few complaints regarding his direction ( I particularly love the shot in the opening credits taken from inside of the washing machine, where Guy Patterson mimics the agitator ), of this movie. I've read reviews of it which have called it "Monkey-esque". While I find that it does resemble (in some ways) the antics of The Monkeys, it reminds me much more of the first two Beatles Movies [ A Hard Day's Night & Help! ]. There are close parallels between the Beatles films and career and the "Wonders". This is a fun little movie with many entertaining moments, I'd reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a pleasant evening of entertainment, despite the many other negative reviews that I've come across on the Net. That Thing You Do! is climbing my favorite chart - with a bullet.
K. Mangum - May 2005 |
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