71
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMr. Hanks's debut feature, written and directed with delightful good cheer, is rock-and-roll nostalgia presented as pure fizz.
- It doesn't overreach, doesn't cannibalize some obvious predecessors and doesn't try to drown its story about innocent music of the early '60s in the troubled waters of music in the '90s.
- In his first effort at directing a feature film, Hanks chooses his material wisely and writes it with witty, beguiling charm.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie may be inconsequential, but in some ways that's a strength. Without hauling in a lot of deep meanings, it remembers with great warmth a time and a place.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversHanks works like a sketch artist feeling his way before attempting a large canvas. His material is slight, but his writing and directing have an unforced humor and an unhurried grace that suggest he may be a natural.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleThe picture... is well- made and entertaining, but it holds a special interest in what it says about Hanks.
- 75San Francisco ExaminerBarbara ShulgasserSan Francisco ExaminerBarbara ShulgasserIt's as sunny as you would expect a Hanks project to be.
- 70Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonFirst-time writer/director Tom Hanks stays about a half-beat ahead of the cliches with rim shots of boyish enthusiasm and deft comedy.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliAlthough Hanks' film starts out strong, it finishes on shaky ground... A serio-comedy/fantasy whose light dramatic arc can't support the awkward and unnecessarily melodramatic ending.
- Hanks nicely lampoons the smug, stagnant, assembly-line attitude of the American pop-music establishment of the time, but it's clear that Hanks intends his Boomer-pleasing nostalgia to be strictly of the declawed variety.