The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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That Thing You Do!
Comedy · Drama · Music · 1996
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.
Movie details
That Thing You Do!
“The Fab Four without the Mop Tops”
1996 Comedy · Drama · Music 1h 48m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
77.1K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
93 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
71 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.9 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over That Thing You Do!?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Rock Star
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Power Ballad
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When Rick, a past-his-prime wedding singer, meets fading boy-band star Danny during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves - even if it means risking everything he cares about.
Sunshine on Leith
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The Choral
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As World War I rages on, Dr. Henry Guthrie takes over a British choral society that's lost most of its men to the army. The community soon discovers that the best response to the chaos of war is to make beautiful music together.
Jersey Boys
Music · 2014
A musical biopic of the Four Seasons—the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation. Far from a mere tribute concert, it gets to the heart of the relationships at the centre of the group, with a special focus on frontman Frankie Valli, the small kid with the big falsetto.
Teen Spirit
Music · 2019
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
A Hard Day's Night
Comedy · 1964
Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Tom Hanks
Written by
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Mr. White
Tom Everett Scott
Guy Patterson
Liv Tyler
Faye Dolan
Johnathon Schaech
Jimmy Mattingly
Steve Zahn
Lenny Haise
Ethan Embry
T.B. Player
Charlize Theron
Tina
Court is in session
Put That Thing You Do! on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.