For a film about rivalry, recriminations, and the allure of success, That Thing You Do! is a sweet, charming, humorous look at how far people are willing to go for success and how difficult it is to attain while maintaining the purity of your true self.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 4, 2022

A nostalgic, whistle-clean comedy about a (fictional) band like the dozens of other nice-boy bands that cropped up after The Beatles.

| Original Score: B | Sep 1, 2022

...a persistently entertaining endeavor that's been suffused with a whole host of appealing, captivating elements...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 13, 2021

Hanks gives us a rocking musical film for the ages in That Thing You Do!

| Nov 26, 2018

The chief wonder of this rock 'n' roll cast is Tom Everett Scott, whose easy charisma, dreamy smile and undersurface intelligence should shoot him up the acting charts like a bullet.

| Oct 4, 2016

It's absolutely impossible not to smile when "The Wonders" hear their song on the radio for the first time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2016

Call it a sanitized version of The Commitments.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 30, 2016

Tom Hanks directorial effort is a decent film overall, but nothing that would ever inspire to re-visit again and again with fondness.

| Mar 29, 2013

| Original Score: A- | Sep 7, 2011

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

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 18, 2010

A movie as catchy and likable as the title song.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 8, 2010

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.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 10, 2009

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.

| Dec 17, 2007

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

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 17, 2007

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.

| Dec 17, 2007

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.

| Jun 21, 2007

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

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 3, 2007

As engaging and bubbly as its title song.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 21, 2006

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

| Jun 24, 2006

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

| Original Score: B | Apr 9, 2005