2 OK comedies and one very good film
calvinnme | 09/20/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This 3 disc set contains the following films:
Disc 1: BACHELOR PARTY
Disc 2: THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE
Disc 3: THAT THING YOU DO!
All are in widescreen and feature Dolby Surround 5.1 audio.
Tom Hank's career can basically be divided into four parts:
A. When he was doing bit parts before "Bosom Buddies". e.g. he showed up for a few seconds in a scene in the TV series "Taxi".
B. After he became recognizable in "Bosom Buddies" but before he became a star in 1984's "Splash".
C. After "Splash" when he was doing largely inane comedies.
D. After he became the first back-to-back Best Actor Oscar winner since Spencer Tracy and entered into his highbrow era.
"Bachelor Party" and "The Man with One Red Shoe" fit into time period C. These are basically B comedies from the 1980's in which Hanks is the best part of the film. Forget about the plot, it is basically just one gag after another. They are good films, but not great.
The third film is from the early part of time period D. 1996's "That Thing You Do" is a very good film, but Tom Hanks was mainly behind the camera, not so much in front of it. It is about a one-hit wonder band from the early-Beatles/Beach Boy era of American music and makes some points about how much life was changing during the mid 1960's as well as the fleeting nature of fame in the music business. There are comic moments in the film, but I wouldn't call it a comedy at all."
Lame
Kevin Hunter | Los Angeles, CA | 04/02/2010
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I'll give it a couple stars only cause it's Tom Hanks, but whomever chose these lousy films to be in this set should be shot.
If you're really looking to catch some of Tom Hanks' best and entertaining work, avoid this and purchase one or a few of the following (they should've chosen three of these when compiling this set):
-Splash
-Big
-The Burbs
-A League of their Own
-Sleepless in Seattle
-Philadelphia
-Forrest Gump
-You've Got Mail
-The Green Mile
-Cast Away
-Catch Me If You Can"