Its production and music are key to its narrative, with original scores by a collaboration of artists including Hanks, Adam Schlesinger, and Howard Shore.

At the talent show, the group performs the song at a faster tempo and wins the competition, earning a paying gig at Villapiano's, a local pizza parlor.

After they decide to record the song and sell 45s of it, produced by Guy's Uncle Bob, local talent promoter Phil Horace notices the band, promising them radio airplay within 10 days.

Phil arranges for the song to debut on Pennsylvania radio, and eventually books them for a showcase concert in Pittsburgh, where technical difficulties and the band's lack of stagecraft result in a disastrous performance.

Afterward, Phil introduces a dispirited Guy to Mr. Amos White, an A&R representative for Play-Tone Records, who offers the band a contract and becomes their manager.

He renames the band "the Wonders" (as many people had misinterpreted "Oneders" as "O'Neders", pronounced "Oh-nee-ders"), advises them on style and presentation (including matching suits, with Guy sporting sunglasses as his trademark), and places them on the Play-Tone tour of Midwestern state fairs, with Faye handling their wardrobes.

Guy is hungover after meeting his idol, jazz pianist Del Paxton, while Jimmy is nervously vomiting and Lenny is preoccupied with his new girlfriend; still, the Wonders manage to successfully cooperate.

An epilogue reveals that Jimmy formed a new band known as the Heardsmen, which made three albums for Play-Tone, all of which were certified Gold, before becoming a successful record producer in Los Angeles.

served 2 tours of duty in Vietnam with the Marines and earned a Purple Heart for wounds sustained at the Battle of Khe Sanh, then worked in construction in Orlando, Florida as a building contractor.

The film features original music by Tom Hanks, Adam Schlesinger, Rick Elias, Scott Rogness, Mike Piccirillo, Gary Goetzman and Howard Shore.

In the film, the Wonders rise to brief stardom on the strength of "That Thing You Do", a song written as a wistful ballad but which becomes an uptempo rocker during the band's first performance at a talent show.

[3] To perform the Wonders' songs convincingly on-camera, Scott, Schaech, Zahn and Embry took several weeks of individual lessons, followed by daily practice as a group.

They eventually honed their performance to the point where extras on the set thought they were actually playing the songs, when in reality they were miming along to recordings by professional musicians.

This song is a send-up of Ray Conniff, Mitch Miller, and other practitioners of the "beautiful music" or proto-Muzak formats that were a staple of adult radio during the early 1960s such as on KPOL (AM) 1540 in Los Angeles.

One was a soul group who had a record called "Please Don't Cry" (b/w "With These Hands"; Bamboo 523) that was cited in the September 1, 1962, issue of Billboard as having "moderate sales potential", but it was not successful.

The CD artwork is a replica of the fictional Playtone label used in the movie, and the liner notes are done in a mockumentary style, as if the Wonders had been a real group and the events of the film had actually happened.

[14] Emanuel Levy of Variety called it "A top-notch production, exuberant period music and Hanks the actor in an important role cunningly disguised a rather slight and inconsequential narrative.

Cast members Johnathon Schaech, Tom Everett Scott, and Steve Zahn traveled to Erie for the occasion and participated in a panel discussion, autograph session, and elements of the ballgame presentation.

As a result of funds collected from VIP experiences as well as memorabilia and jersey auctions, the 25th anniversary event raised $25,500 for Notice Ability, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students with dyslexia.

It also 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.

was packaged with Bachelor Party and The Man with One Red Shoe in the Tom Hanks Triple Feature DVD anthology set.