an oddball picture that hooks me every time

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2007)

Tom Hanks put a lot into this smart and funny off-beat picture (it's almost the cinematic equivalent of his persona when you see him interviewed on Letterman -- maybe it's that personally felt) which depicts the-rise-and-that's-all history of a one hit wonder band in the just post- British invasion '60s. It's hip and square at the same time and that damn song, played again and again in pleasing variations, is exactly right. The casting of the band mates, notably Jonathan Schaech (a wannabe Lennon or Dylan), Steve Zahn (a Ringo kind of goof) and Tom Everret Scott, a young Hanks lookalike, who has artistic jazz-minded desires, make for an ensemble that is heartfelt, real and friendly-- oh, and Ethan Embry plays the bass player. Hanks himself gives one of his best, and most understated, performances as the band's big-time producer/Svengali and Liv Tyler is the lead singer's perfect girlfriend, Faye -- "Well, Faye's special", says Hanks himself at one point and we know, any one who's been around a rock'n'roll band knows, he's right. Light, airy, kind of weird -- all the terrific (as well as the terrifically awful music -- "Lovin' You Lots and Lots" by the Norm Wooster Singers) is original to the film -- "That Thing...", even as it falters a little in its final third, makes you happy to watch a movie that its players and its makers are more than giddy to present.