That Thing You Do! (1996)

Directed by Tom Hanks. Starring Tom Everett Scott, Steve Zahn, Johnathon Schaech, Liv Tyler, Tom Hanks, Ethan Embry, Giovanni Ribisi, Holmes Osborne, Obba Babatundé, Bill Cobbs, Charlize Theron, Chris Ellis. [PG]

Tom Hanks’ first effort as writer and director is a featherweight confection set during the summer of 1964 when an inauspicious Pennsylvania garage band captures lightning in a bottle with an infectious ditty (written by Adam Schelsinger of Fountains of Wayne fame) that starts climbing the charts and turns them into a short-lived sensation. As the musically-gifted drummer (and most frequent focal point of the band’s story), Scott seems an appropriate casting decision, since he looks and behaves a lot like Hanks did fifteen years prior; Hanks himself gets perhaps the most sharply-written character, an A&R rep who’s not as sleazy or cynical as he could have been, but still has the experience and business sense to know how to operate in the industry with these kinds of flash-in-the-pan talents. Amiable and breezy, but too slack to be an irresistible feel-good fantasy, and too slight to provide deeper meaning or more pointed and honest angles into that specific era and lifestyle. Loaded with famous faces in minor roles, including Bryan Cranston, Alex Rocco, Clint Howard, Chris Isaak, and Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson (two of his children also appear). Warning: if the titular tune rubs you the wrong way, stay far away because it is played ad nauseum throughout.

68/100