That Thing You Do!
The film follows the career of an Erie, Pennsylvania, rock band that formed at the beginning of the British Invasion in 1964. Former peacetime army serviceman Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott), who now works at his father's appliance store in Erie, Pennsylvania, is a good drummer who idolizes jazz and is involved in a shallow relationship with Tina Powers (Charlize Theron in one of her first major motion picture roles.)
Guy is asked by rhythm guitarist/singer Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech) and lead guitarist/singer Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn) to substitute at that night's annual Mercyhurst College talent show, for their unnamed beat group's regular drummer, Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) - who has broken his arm. Rounding out the group is the bass player (Ethan Embry), whose character is never named, even in the movie's credits. (He is known simply as "The Bass Player" or "T. B. Player", an in-joke on the anonymity of session musicians.[citation needed]) They are to play a ballad written by Jimmy (and as Jimmy admits, by Lenny, uncredited) titled "That Thing You Do," which they rehearse in Jimmy's parent's garage. At the suggestion of Jimmy's "sort-of" girlfriend Faye Dolan (Liv Tyler), inspired by a comment from Guy, they adopt the name "The Oneders" (pronounced "ONE-ders"), but it is almost always mispronounced as the "oh-NEE-ders."
At the talent show, Guy sets up a pounding beat substantially faster than its original ballad tempo. Although the rest of band struggles at first to keep up, the crowd instantly gets up to dance to it, and the band adjusts quickly. They overwhelmingly win the $100 top prize, and within minutes they get their first paying gig, at a pizza parlor near the airport named Villapianos.
After a fan requests their record, The Oneders enlist the help of Guy's Uncle Bob (Chris Isaak), who records songs and sermons for churches and choirs, to record and cut the song on vinyl, which Faye subsequently sells at their gigs. Talent scout Phil Horace (Chris Ellis) sees them play, buys a copy of their record, and introduces himself to Guy at the appliance store. Based on Horace's promise that he will get them radio airplay and performance bookings in big cities like Pittsburgh and Steubenville, Ohio, The Oneders sign his standard management contract, despite Jimmy's initial reluctance to assign rights to his music.
Horace is successful: "That Thing You Do" is played three times in one day on local Erie station WJET to the band's shocked pleasure, as they riotously celebrate in Guy's father's appliance store. The Oneders are booked at a major gig in Pittsburgh, sponsored by well-known mattress salesman and pompous rock music promoter "Boss Vic Koss" (Kevin Pollak). Although their first set is a failure due to a series of technical mishaps, Horace has secretly arranged for a record company A&R man, Mr. White (Hanks) to see the show. Mr. White is impressed by their record, and he buys the band's contract, signs the band to his employer (the Play-Tone record label), changes the spelling of their name to 'The Wonders', and decides that Guy should always wear sunglasses on stage and be known as "Shades" as his "trademark". He also arranges for Faye to accompany the band as "wardrobe mistress." As the Wonders go on tour and start to make it big, Tina, Guy's girlfriend, (not very impressed with Guy's newfound semi-stardom) falls in love with her handsome new dentist and without telling Guy, dumps the drummer for her new infatuation.
Alongside the other Play-Tone stable of artists, the band tours state fairs across the Midwest. Their single enters and climbs the Billboard Top 100. As the tour progresses, The Wonders go from being the opening act to the feature attraction, even earning band-specific stage decorations. Throngs of teenage girls mob the band at one tour stop. While on tour, the movie implies that Jimmy engages in a secret affair with aging siren Diane Dane (Chaille Percival). When "That Thing You Do" hits the Top 10, the band is ordered to leave the tour in Wisconsin and head for Hollywood to meet Sol Siler (Alex Rocco), the owner of Play-Tone, for a promotional photo shoot. While leaving the Wisconsin state fair, a security guard stops Faye from accompanying the group (similar to a real incident that happened to Cynthia Lennon in August 1967), but Guy comes back for her. On the airplane, White announces that the band also will be appearing in a major motion picture and, at Jimmy's urging, doing a recording session for an album, while Faye comes down with a severe cold, much to Guy's concern. Meanwhile, in Erie, original drummer Chad has taken Guy's place as a salesman at Patterson's Appliance.
The Wonders then appear as "Cap'n Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters" in a film, Weekend at Party Pier, that is actually a beach movie, and Siler turns out to neither know nor care anything about the record business, preferring to discuss himself. Jimmy becomes disillusioned and sulks. During an off day, the bass player abandons the band to visit Disneyland with a group of United States Marines, whose ranks he had previously committed to join. Alone, Guy goes to a jazz club, where he meets his idol, jazz pianist Del Paxton (Bill Cobbs), and drinks with him until closing time. The next day, experienced studio bassist Scott "Wolfman" Pell (Larry Antonino) joins The Wonders for a live performance on The Hollywood Television Showcase. During the nationally televised prime-time show, the words "Careful girls, he's engaged!" are captioned on the screen beneath Jimmy's image (an homage to "Sorry girls, he's married!" to John Lennon on The Ed Sullivan Show). After the show, an angry Jimmy rudely tells a stunned Faye and the rest of the band that he is not engaged and that he doesn't intend to marry Faye. Hurt by Jimmy's shocking callousness and insensitivity, Faye denounces Jimmy and ends their relationship.
At the recording session the next day, The Wonders learn that they are to record songs from the Play-Tone catalog for their album. White promises Jimmy one original song per side of the album but makes it clear that he wants "snappy" material, not ballads. Jimmy promptly quits the band and walks out. Lenny never shows up for the session, having driven to Las Vegas with a Play-Tone secretary/Playboy Bunny after the previous nights televised show and married her. White thanks Wolfman for coming, and Wolfman leaves. With the departure of everyone but Guy, White declares the group in breach of contract. White expresses to Guy that Lenny is "the fool" and Jimmy is "the talent" but Guy is "the smart one," and asks about Faye (whom White says "is special"), then leaves. Guy remains in the recording studio alone — his first time in one — and his impromptu drumming catches the ear of Del Paxton, who is recording next door. The two record a jam session where Guy plays a drum routine titled "I Am Spartacus" while Del improvises an accompanying piano part.
Back at their L.A. hotel, Guy tells Faye that Del thinks he can make it as a session musician in L.A., and Faye and Guy finally declare their love for one another. (In the "director's cut" of the film, the jam session results in a job for Guy at jazz radio station KJZZ, which had earlier interviewed the Wonders. That's how Guy becomes a "permanent West Coast-er.")
In a written epilogue, Guy and Faye remain in Los Angeles, marry the following year and raise four children before moving to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where they found a music conservatory where Guy teaches jazz composition. Jimmy rejoins Play-Tone and records three gold albums with a new band called The Heardsmen (which was Jimmy's original choice to name The Wonders) and eventually becomes a music Producer. Lenny manages a casino in Laughlin, Nevada, and he is "currently single". The Bass Player is awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained at Khe Sanh while serving in the Marines and eventually becomes a building contractor in Orlando, Florida.
