Generally, Tom Hanks has had a great track record when it comes to critical acclaim. Hanks, being a veteran of films like Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia and the Toy Story movies, has also seen his share of films that have been panned. Deadline reports that Hanks acknowledged the strangely fluctuating opinions critics can have when he appeared on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. He explained, “Then the critics weigh in. And that’s always up, down: ‘We hate it, we like it. This is the worst thing. … Oh hey, Tom, I saw you in a movie.’ ‘Oh did you?’ ‘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…’”
Hanks continued, “But then, this other thing is how it does at the box office. Then, a ton of time goes by when none of that stuff matters anymore, and The movie just exists exactly as it is outside of loser, winner status, thumbs up, thumbs down. And that’s when this stuff comes around, where it’s like 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.”
As O’Brien brings up Hanks’ directorial debut, That Thing You Do, as an example, Hanks is reminded of a specific critic, then jokes,
Let me tell you something about these c*cksuckers who write about movies. Can I say that?”
Hanks continues to cite a story about a critic of That Thing You Do, “Somebody who wrote about it [said], ‘Tom Hanks has to stop hanging around with veterans of TV, because this is just like it’s shot on TV and it’s not much of anything.’ That same person then wrote about the ‘cult classic’ That Thing You Do. Same exact person, they said, ‘All you need is 20 years between now and then, and it ends up speaking some words.’ But that’s the thing we all signed up for. That’s the carnival, that’s the contest. I got faith in that. That’s okay.”