With this movie Tom Hanks proves he can not only act amazingly well but also write and direct a movie. "That thing you do!" is a great movie that has feeling and doesn't drag on. The fact that there are not to many known actors in this movie actually makes it more enjoyable because the viewer can concentrate more in the actual plot and everything that's going on rather than a specific acting performance. The soundtrack is one of the best cinematic elements in the movie and it really is one of the most enjoyable soundtracks I have heard so far. The acting is by all actors is just great and the chemistry is just right. Also the audience experiences again how many feelings and emotions Tom Hanks can portray with his face alone. All in all "That thing you do!" is a very enjoyable movie that just flies by and that every music fan should see. Also I would've given it an 8.5 but that is unfortunately not possible.

Feces! Smear it all over your face! I do not take this movie seriously. I do not respect the real effort put forward to make this movie and this movie was more than one person's labor of love and here I am squatting over it preparing to empty my bowels upon the film, metaphorically. What kind of dump will it be? A loose stool? Something solid and meaty? Brown soup? It's a mystery, nah I'll just tell you, it's gonna be foamy diarrhea like I'm getting over a bad cold or maybe I should eat more fiber. I bet you thought this was going to be a movie review, well pal, this is America and I can and will use figurative language to express my disdain through the imagery of sh*t. Don't forget to wipe.

REally liked this movie because it told a STORY and had CHARACTERS! No one gets shot, beat up, murdered, and it requires no special effects. It's a well thought out script with a beginning, a middle and end like they are supposed to have. Great characters all around. Different people, different stories behind them. Tom Hanks as usual was great. I think one of the best things about Tom Hanks is his willingness to be part of an ensemble cast - and he is so good at that. The guys in the band were all great. Specially liked Steve Zahn who was hilarious. Lots of fun at concerts and on stage performance with the band. Also thought Liv Tyler was magnificent. Great performance by her and as always, quite beautiful. I'd like to see more movies like this that rely on character, script, and story, rather than the digital effects department.

I had seen this movie a number of years ago but didn't remember much about it, so I saw it again today on DVD from my public library. I was a college Freshman in 1963/64, when the Beatles were first gaining popularity on this side of the pond, and this movie fairly accurately recreates that period, the way people dressed, and how teenagers reacted when seeing their pop idols live in concert.The story grabs hold of a theme I am very fond of pondering, both in real life and in fiction stories. That theme is the relative randomness of our lives, the things that happen, and then how we react to those random events. If we look at random events in our own lives, we can see how certain unexpected things shaped who we are today.In this movie a group of high school friends like to make music, one of them writes songs and is the featured singer. He has written "That Thing You Do" and they are about to perform it in a local small-potatoes contest. But the drummer, horsing around by showing the bass player how to jump over parking meters, falls and breaks his arm right before the contest.Now that is the "random event", and it leads them to ask another guy in town, who is a good drummer, to sit in for that one gig, so that they will still have a chance to win the competition. Then comes the rest of the influence of that "random event", the drummer own his own (this is important) decides to beat out a much faster tempo. It is this faster tempo that makes "That Thing You Do" a hit with the audience, attracts the attention of an agent, gets them a record, gets them a contract, puts them on tour, and has their hit rise towards the top of the charts.If their original drummer had not broken his arm, they would have just remained an ordinary band. Well as the story progresses they experience all the growing pains of sudden fame, and conflicting priorities among the members of the group. Tom Hanks directed, has a part as a record label agent, and he even wrote many of the songs. Tom Everett Scott who was in his mid-20s is very good as the replacement drummer, Guy Patterson. Liv Tyler, still a teenager was Faye Dolan who ended up traveling with the band. Her boyfriend was Johnathon Schaech as Jimmy who wrote the song and sang lead vocals. Steve Zahn was the crazy member Lenny, and Ethan Embry, also a teenager, was T. B. Player the unreliable bass player. Another teenager just starting her career was Charlize Theron as Tina in a fairly small part, as a flaky girlfriend who dumps Guy after an appointment with a handsome dentist. Plus young Giovanni Ribisi as Chad , the original drummer who breaks his arm.All in all a fairly pleasant movie.