That Thing You Do! (LP)

I think what I really want from That Thing You Do is an EP edition (that's "shorter" for you kids out there). That said, if you dig the movie and want more, or just want an alternative watch, this fanedit is the ticket. It might not replace the theatrical cut purely because this runs over 2 hours. That's going to feel too long for some people for what's a pretty straightforward story. But I could easily see it replacing the Extended Edition DVD.

Importantly, the faneditor doesn't just pick and choose which scenes to add in, but also moved a few things around to improve the narrative, and I think they're all good choices. I have to say that the touches added to the opening credits are very impressive, too! The quality of everything done here is fantastic, actually better than the original film. There's only one spot where I did notice (and I see now that others did too) the exterior street scene was cut in. It was originally the opening of the film and it just looks very different than how the footage around it was shot in its new position. It's a small quibble though.

A bigger quibble: why can't Lenny get a better ending?! Man, that final title card is a bummer. I want a fan-edit that types up a bit more of a life for him. Justice for Steve Zahn!

This is a second review since I just watched the again.
This is a great amalgamation of the theatrical cut and the extended cut. Also presentation looks cleaner than my crappy blu-ray. Enjoyed the new scenes and some of the stuff that annoyed me that got trimmed/tweaked.

It's been a long time since I watched my DVD, so when I watched this edit I didn't notice anything that was cut. However, I did see a scene that was added, Overall this is a nice presentation. Very well done.

That Thing You Do was a fun movie when the Theatrical Cut hit cinemas in 1996. The subsequent Extended Cut. wasn't perfect but did improve the experience. Now DigModiFicaTion gives us the best of both worlds by keeping the best Extended material while trimming the rest down to the Theatrical story.

Audio is impeccable throughout (crucial in a music movie!).

Video is excellent but not perfect: a few short transition scenes look softer than the scenes before and after (Reshoots? Pick up shots?). The green screen is noticeable when the band plays outside to a large audience (with the camera behind the drummer, you see the "cut out"). And one brief cutaway shot of street (@36m) is noticeable grainy (DigModiFicaTion confirms in the change list that this is a zoomed-in shot). Mind you, none of this is problematic to the edit's enjoyment.

One editing detail caught my attention: the start of the bar fight. Most of the lead-up (with the fire extinguisher) is cut and it was not very clear to me what causes the fight.

This edit compellingly replaces both the Theatrical and the Extended Cut. Go enjoy and swing to That Thing You Do!

Full disclosure: I made the subtitles for this edit, so I am obviously a fan.

The video quality bounces around a bit, but I only really noticed it happening in one scene. I know it happened in other scenes but it was usually on scene changes and not very distracting.

I wouldn't have cut some of the language, personally. But I didn't really miss any of it.

In general, this was really, really well done.

If you think the extended cut was too long, give this edit a shot. It's pretty snappy.