That Thing You Do!: Critic Reviews

Mr. Hanks's debut feature, written and directed with delightful good cheer, is rock-and-roll nostalgia presented as pure fizz.

Hanks has good "Thing" going.

First-time writer/director Tom Hanks stays about a half-beat ahead of the cliches with rim shots of boyish enthusiasm and deft comedy. The movie's also buoyed by the title song, whose Beatles sound is infectious enough to merit a real hit.

Though Hanks doesn't serve up much context, he's solid with details, and the Wonders' performances ring truer than most.

In the end, the movie simply clicks. It is a class act all the way.

Without hauling in a lot of deep meanings, it remembers with great warmth a time and a place.

Though Hanks keeps the satirical and critical aspects of this look at show biz fairly light, there's a lot of conviction and savvy behind the steadiness of his gaze.

...a larky but observant comedy.

A sweet, likeable tale of the quick rise to fame and then demise of a small town band. Set in 1964, Hanks' film offers a sanitized, Gump-ish look at a mythical period when boys were boys and girls were girls, with no references to the sex-drug subculture

Hanks evokes astonishingly precise memories of the time.

That Thing You Do! is a credible first effort.

...a movie that, like many a pop tune, has a cute idea but a simpleminded lyric.

...a brightly entertaining blend of humor and heartbreak about four fresh-faced guys in a band from Erie, Pa.

Leaving audiences feeling good is very much, and very successfully, on its mind.

Sweet, sleepy take on flash-in-the-pan '60s band.

A movie as catchy and likable as the title song.

Whereas Dances With Wolves was an epic cultural tract, That Thing You Do! is a piece of entertaining bubblegum which, like its director, making his feature directorial debut, is high on charm and style.

A barely there-tale of rock 'n' roll dreams, driven by the infectious title tune.

An undeniably delightful film. It makes you smile and want to dance, and (for better or worse) it's titular theme song won't leave your head for days.

Sweet nothing, then, but what would you expect of a rock movie devoted to the drummer?

A simple, rather sweet and uncomplicated, rock and roll fable.

With its exuberant tempo and danceable Beatlesque theme song, That Thing You Do will win the hearts of a broad audience.

Uma historia simples, contada de maneira tambem simples, que acaba agradando por suas boas intencoes.

Hanks sacrificed character complexity, but at least some period details are right.

An amusing directorial debut by Hanks