Tom Hank's roots are simple: a transvestite in "Bosom Buddies" hits it lucky and becomes a huge actor. Amazingly enough, he had the talent to become the first man since Spencer Tracy to win two consecutive Best Actor Academy Awards. As has become a custom with all successful actors, Tom is now "big" enough to write and direct his own feature motion picture.
The result: That Thing You Do!, a chipper little number about the rise and fall of a fictitious one-hit-wonder sixties band, the Wonders.
The film stars Tom Everett Scott as a young washing-machine salesman named Guy who happens to love jazz and is a very skilled drummer. Along comes a going-nowhere band that begs Guy to join them for one night at a local talent show. Their catchy new song, the title of the movie, wins the show for them, and from there the band rises and falls like the Roman Empire.
Each of the bandmates becomes a victim of his own vice, except our hero. The guitarist is a Billy Corgan type, too artistic to be a nice guy. There's humor in the other members, but it's a sad humor, as we know the fate of the band before the movie starts.
But Guy, our hero, finds his joy in music. And who finds the most fulfillment in music by film's end? You guessed it.
The band runs the sandard rise-to-fame. Signing a record contract, playing national TV and meeting artistic idols are great, but there is a downside to it all that Hanks only makes fleeting references to, such as a bad-deal record contract that is broken before the ink is dry.
Hanks doesn't stop there. He avoids nasty conflicts in his story, instead aiming at a Forrest Gumpish sort of goal: making the audience leave the theater with that fuzzy-happy feeling in their stomachs.
The film was indeed wholesomely entertaining, but lacked a concrete theme.
Maybe Hanks was telling us to be ourselves. After all, his most down-to-earth character gets the girl and lives a fulfilling life, just by sticking to his roots and not letting success get to him.
On the other hand, does this mean Tom Hanks will go back into drag?
If he does, than I may give That Thing You Do! some respect. Until then, it's just run-of-the-mill
entertainment.