Light, engaging, adorable; surprisingly, it holds up on 2nd viewing

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2005)

I understood why Hanks thought his ego had gone overboard when I first saw it. However, I liked it then and appreciate its subtleties as it passes by all these years later on cable. It has quite a few elements I missed the first time around because the song and the attention to '60s detail had me reliving my childhood. There is something irrepressibly elating about the affect the meteoric rise of the song has on young people from a somewhat remote town in PA. I wonder how many people my age daydreamed about something like that happening to them? And the scene when they first hear their song over the radio evokes memories of soaring joy on those rare occasions when something came out so right. The warning from Del Paxton to Guy about bands was nice scripting. I can't imagine it working as well if it had a more in-depth message.