That Thing You Do! (1996) on Netflix
Guy Patterson, a jazz drummer in Erie, Pennsylvania, fills in at a talent show when their drummer Chad breaks an arm. His faster beat turns Jimmy Mattingly's ballad into a hit.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.0/1079,173 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1964, Guy Patterson works at his family's appliance store in Erie, Pennsylvania, and would rather be playing jazz drums. When a local band's drummer breaks an arm, Jimmy Mattingly and Lenny Haise recruit Guy for a talent show. They rehearse a slow ballad Jimmy wrote, "That Thing You Do!", and Jimmy's girlfriend Faye Dolan suggests the name the Oneders. Guy plays it faster at the show, the band wins, and they record and sell 45s. Promoter Phil Horace gets the song onto Pennsylvania radio. After a Pittsburgh showcase goes badly, Play-Tone Records representative Mr. White offers a contract, becomes the band's manager, renames them the Wonders and sends them on a tour of Midwestern state fairs.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about That Thing You Do! (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Wonders' bass guitarist, played by Ethan Embry, is unnamed in the film and credited only as "T.B. Player", short for "The Bass Player", a joke on the perception that bass players are unknown and unappreciated. Embry later said: "I just said my name was Tobias, because he's such a Tobias."
- Of the four actors playing the Wonders, only Steve Zahn and Ethan Embry had any prior experience of playing their assigned instruments. They honed their performance to the point where extras on the set thought they were actually playing, when they were miming to recordings by professional musicians.
- One of the Wonders' songs was written by the band Gigolo Aunts as a "faux-Beatles"-style tune, at the request of their record label, to be submitted for consideration for inclusion in the film.
- Another real group called the Wonders, a mixed race doo wop group from New York City who also recorded as the Satans Four, had a regional hit with "Say There" in August 1963; it reached the Top 20 at WCOL in Columbus, Ohio.
SPOILER
The extended version suggests that the character portrayed by Tom Hanks, Mr. White, is not only gay but in a relationship with a man played by former NFL defensive lineman Howie Long.
