Peppy Song, Sad Movie

Rating: 5/10 (8 November 1998)

Painful to watch at times; the goofiness of some of the band members is nearly unbearable. The creative leader of the band suddenly becomes a selfish twit near the end of the film. He inexplicably dumps the girl (Liv Tyler) he had always adored. She quickly falls for another band member and they live happily ever after. Of course, the band members have already parted permanently, not just as collaborators, but also as friends. The idea is they were never friends at all, but just fell together for the purpose of forming a band. Very sad. The movie is totally unwatchable when Hanks or Tyler are not on screen. The other characters are not fleshed out, perhaps deliberately, and are just boring. The title song, very ingratiating at first, gradually becomes annoying after many playings. This is intentional because the musicians themselves tire of playing it constantly and want to move onto something else. This film could have used some comedy. The dramatic moments felt heavy-handed and, despite the considerable charisma of Hanks and Tyler, the light comedy potential was never exploited.