Why That Thing You Do! Still Works as the Perfect Feelgood Film

"How did we get here?" Steve Zahn's character asks his bandmate in That Thing You Do!, moments before they perform on live television. It's a small line from 1996 that has stayed with viewers for nearly three decades — and it captures why Tom Hanks's modest film about a one-hit-wonder pop band keeps earning the label of "feelgood movie".

The case for the film begins with Hanks himself. In 1996 he sat at the top of Hollywood, holding back-to-back Best Actor Oscar wins and starring in two of 1995's highest-grossing films, Toy Story and Apollo 13. He could plausibly have made anything. Instead he chose to write, direct and co-star in this gentle ode to 1960s pop music — a film of such warmth, fans argue, that any scene watched at any moment instantly lifts the mood.

What is the film actually about?

The story follows a fictional band called the Wonders. Inspired by the Beatles, they originally spell their name the Oneders, until constant mispronunciations — "the oh-need-ers" — force a change. Their rise begins when drummer Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) sits in and spontaneously ups the tempo of their song, That Thing You Do!. Local restaurateurs and promoters take notice, then a record producer named Mr White, played by Hanks himself.

The title track does double duty: it drives the plot and anchors the film's appeal. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne wrote it, and it plays constantly throughout the movie — "and you're always happy to hear it," as one longtime fan puts it. The film matches its own soundtrack, zipping through a 108-minute running time as the record climbs the charts and opportunities arrive at dizzying speed.

But the momentum doesn't hold. Creative tensions, unhappy relationships and professional callings break the band apart almost as fast as it formed. And that, counterintuitively, is the film's strength: it offers "vicarious wish-fulfillment but doesn't shy away from sobering reality". There's no blissfully happy ending. Wistfulness takes the lead, and viewers are more likely to feel a lump in the throat than a tap in the toe. When things fall apart, it stings — but not as a mortal wound, the way most show-business cautionary tales deliver it.

Where does the kindness come from?

There are no real villains. Jimmy, the brooding talent, could be one, but his self-righteousness has a point. Tina (Charlize Theron) is superficial but never cruel. Even Sol Siler (Alex Rocco), the record-label head who couldn't care less about the music, gets credit for making things possible. Each character receives a little ribbing, and also grace.

The camaraderie of the band, the effervescence of Jimmy's girlfriend Faye (Liv Tyler) and Hanks's own balancing act — laughter and poignancy without overshadowing the cast — complete the picture. In a recent interview, Matthew Rhys recalled Hanks's advice to him: "this too shall pass." That same humility, given for both the bad days and the good, pulses through the film.

What does the film change for viewers who return to it decades later? The ending stings less. Watching it now, it plays as if Hanks is quietly saying: "Between fame and happiness, choose happiness." That Thing You Do! is available on Pluto in the US, to rent digitally in the UK and on Disney+ in Australia — positioned to bring its particular, clear-eyed joy to another generation.