Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.
That Thing You Do! is a warm, crowd-pleasing love letter to early-1960s pop music and the fleeting nature of fame. The plot is slight but charming — a one-hit-wonder arc that never pretends to be more than it is, and executes its modest ambitions with consistency. Acting is solid across the board, with Tom Hanks bringing easy charisma as the band's manager and a likable ensemble, though no performance is truly exceptional. Cinematography captures the period's sunny optimism competently but without standout visual ambition. Novelty is respectable — the film has a distinctive, affectionate tone and the infectious title song is a genuine creative masterstroke, but the overall narrative follows a fairly familiar rise-and-fall template. The ending is bittersweet and honest, satisfying without being surprising. A thoroughly above-average but not exceptional film in any single dimension.