![]() ![]() So what makes a Perfect Movie? A tight screenplay, for one thing. He made “That Thing You Do!” - a song originally conceived as a dry ballad - into a hit record. He felt music the way no one else in The Wonders (Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, and Ethan Embry) really could. You know who else does that? Guy Patterson. ![]() ![]() ![]() I find the goddamned groove and I let it consume me. See, the thing was that my dad played guitar. I’ll tell you this, though: Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) taught me to love the drums. I took lessons, and all, but, I don’t know - it just didn’t take. I grew up on punk rock, which means I can strum and slam my way through power chords without the slightest inclination toward scales or rudiments. Not a real one, mind you I can’t read music or tell you a single thing about theory. Anyone remember VH1’s Movies That Rock? VH1 was this network for old people that was owned by the MTV company but not technically MTV, you know? Anyway, they showed this movie every goddamn week, and after two or three viewings, I was in love.īecause That Thing You Do! entered my life just around the time I became a musician. It was one of the first movies that was ever mine, a movie I grew to love without prompting or persuasion, without parental influence or probable cause. It’s the rare Perfect Movie, a complex, alchemical cocktail of charm and genius that reminds us just how joyous this hellish trash fire of a world can be if we’re looking at it through the right set of eyes. America’s Dad knew what the hell he was doing when he dreamed up That Thing You Do!, his 1996 love letter to Beatlemania, the rags-to-riches archetype, and Steve Zahn’s goofy grin. How ballsy do you have to be to bet your entire movie on a song? I mean, there’s no accounting for taste, and how do you know - I mean, KNOW - that a song is going to be ear-wormy enough to satiate a rowdy audience for 108 minutes? You’ve gotta be Tom Hanks ballsy, that’s how ballsy you have to be. I've got a pig in competition over at the livestock pavilion, and I am going to win that blue ribbon!" I love Lenny.“I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus.” Obviously." and "Oh, I'm not here with these fellas. Watch for: the nod to Apollo 13 - when the Oneders are playing at Boss Vic Koss' show in Pittsburgh one of the other band names on the theater marquee is "Marilyn Lovell & The Geminis".ĭid you know: Tom Hanks wrote and directed the film.Įxtra bonus points: if you can name two other band names under consideration, according to Jimmy's notebook.Īlso listen for: "I play a lot of cards. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy's ballad, the song's undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.Ĭount: how many suit colors the "guys look great in".ĭon't miss: Capn' Geech and the Shrimpshack Shooters. The plot: Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. White) Charlize Theron (Tina) Rita Wilson (Marguerite) Chris Isaak (Uncle Bob) The cast: Tom Everett Scott (Guy "Skitch" "Shades" Patterson) Liv Tyler (Faye Dolan) Johnathon Schaech (Jimmy Mattingly) Steve Zahn (Lenny Haise) Ethan Embry (T.B. ![]()
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