Tom Hanks doesn’t seem to believe what any critics say about any movie has to do anything with its success.
During a recent appearance on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, Hanks gave a detailed breakdown of the journey movies often take from initial release to becoming a lasting legacy.
In a lighthearted rant, the two-time Oscar winner suggested that time, rather than critics, ultimately determines a film’s value.
Reflecting on his 1996 directorial debut, That Thing You Do!, Hanks pointed out that while critics initially dismissed the film, it has since found a beloved spot as a cult classic among fans.
“All of this stuff lives. Now what has happened is that time has become one of the metrics for how these things matter, right?” Hanks said about a movie’s image.
“Back in the day it was just a fistfight. It was every movie you had coming out, are you going to make the playoffs or not? Guess what? No, kid, you ain’t going nowhere. Or, you got a shot.”
“It used to be you had these Rubicons that you crossed,” the actor explained in detail.
“First of all, do you love it or not? That’s the first thing. I read this [script] and I love it. The next Rubicon you cross is when the movie is completely done a year and a half later and you see it for the first time, and you might like it. It doesn’t matter if it works or not. You look at it and say, ‘Hey, I think we acquitted ourselves pretty good.’ That’s Rubicon No. 2.”
He further continued, “Then the critics weigh in, that’s Rubicon No. 3, and that’s always up or down: ‘We hate it, we like it. This is the worst thing. … Oh hey, Tom, I saw you in a movie. It was cute.’ That’s when you ask the wife, ‘Hey, honey, could you take the revolver out of the glove box and hide it somewhere, because I think…”
He explained that while critics and box office numbers play a role initially, “then a ton of time goes by when none of that stuff matters anymore,” emphasising how time ultimately holds more sway in determining a movie’s true impact, regardless of early reviews.
“The movie just exists exactly as it is outside of loser or winner status or thumbs up, thumbs down,” Hanks continued.
“And that’s when this stuff comes around, where it’s like that this thing that didn’t work back then kind of does work now, or just the opposite, a thing that was huge back then is a museum piece and doesn’t really speak to anything.”
Further in the conversation when O’Brien brought up That Thing You Do!, Hanks responded, “Let me tell you something about these c–suckers who write about movies. Can I say that?”
Hanks recalled a critic who once slammed That Thing You Do! by writing, “Tom Hanks has to stop hanging around with veterans of TV, because this is just like the shot on TV and it’s not much of anything.”
As time passed and the film grew as a cult classic, the same critic weighed in and loved the movie.
“They said, ‘All you need is 20 years between now and then, and it ends up speaking some words,’” the actor remembered.
“But that’s the thing we all signed up for,” Hanks concluded. “That’s the carnival, that’s the contest. I got faith in that. That’s okay.”
