DailyView: Day 312, Movie 445

I had never seen seen this Tom Hanks film, That Thing You Do! before and I do not know why. I have always enjoyed Tom Hanks and I have loved music for years, especially within the 1960s. And I really enjoyed this movie.

According to IMDB: Recounts a fable of a pop rock band formed a year after the Beatles took America by storm in early 1964. Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy’s ballad, the song’s undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.

The music of this film was so entertaining. I enjoyed the title track, which was a good thing considering how many times we heard it. The music of the 60s was absolutely another character in the film, not only the music of the Wonders, but also the jazz, the other singers in the state fair tour and so on.

I thought Jimmy’s (Johnathon Schaech) choices at the end come out of nowhere. I kept expecting there to be a triangle between Jimmy, Guy (Tom Everett Scott) and Faye (Liv Tyler), but I was happy that the stereotypical trope was kept out of the film. It felt so much more realistic than just the soap opera twist.

Tom Hanks is great, unsurprisingly. He played off the characters so well without showing anybody up. He was the perfect supporting actor in this movie.

There is a great cast to including Ethan Embry (The Bass Player), Charlize Theron (Tina), Obba Babatunde (Lamarr), Giovanni Ribisi (Chad), Chris Ellis (Phil), Alex Rocco (Sol), Bill Cobbs (Del Paxton), Peter Scolari (Tony), Rita Wilson (Marguerite), Chris Isaak (Uncle Bob) and Kevin Pollak (Boss Koss).

I found this to be light and energetic. Thoroughly entertaining. The music was great and the characters were fun. I’m glad I finally got around to That Thing You Do!