Single Person's Movie: That Thing You Do!
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It's 2 a.m. and you awake with a jerk, alone in your fully lit apartment and still on the couch. On TV, the credits of some movie you've already seen a billion times are scrolling by. It feels like rock bottom. And we know, because we're just like you: single.
Need a movie to keep you company until you literally can't keep your eyes open? Join us tonight when we pass out to That Thing You Do! [starting @ 12 a.m. on Fox Movie Channel]
Why we'll try to stay up and watch it: Released 12 years ago to the day, That Thing You Do! is a movie beyond criticism. It's so darn charming and likable that even the most cold-hearted and cynical person would have to stop and smile at its brightly colored goodness as they flipped through the channels.
At this point, That Thing You Do! is most famous for giving Tom Hanks the name of his production company, Playtone, which has produced hits like Cast Away and the miniseries John Adams. But we'll always remember it as Mr. Hanks' directorial debut, a lovely little rise and fall story of a '60s one-hit-wonder act, appropriately called "The Wonders," that gets pushed along to stardom by a righteously catchy pop song, "That Thing You Do." Part of the reason the film works so well is because the song is real: Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne wrote it, and Mike Viola from The Candy Butchers sang lead vocals. With the amount of times the song is played or clipped in the film, if it weren't actually good, you'd probably want to blow your brains out. Seriously, that song gets more spins in two hours than "Disturbia" gets on Z100.
When we'll probably fall asleep: There are cameos aplenty in That Thing You Do!, but our favorite comes from Alex Rocco, better known as Moe Green from The Godfather. Mr. Green will show up 70 minutes into the film at 1:10 a.m., playing Sol Siler, the pink-suited head of Playtone records. In the span of three minutes, he'll schmooze the paparazzi, call for lunch ("let's have some deli") and nearly choke on a sandwich while dressing down the band's lead singer, who he hilariously refers to as "Fabian." In a movie as nice as That Thing You Do!, it's actually a relief when someone gets mean.
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