Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

How sad is this?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One thing you can say about John Patrick Shanley's writing, he can do charming without being too maudlin. He's a master of quaintness and while Joe Versus the Volcano stands as one of the playwright's biggest misfires, there's still a surprising amount of depth to it. The movie starts with Joe Banks (Tom Hanks), an overworked corporate drone and hypochondriac who is told he has less than a year to live. Joe is propositioned by an eccentric billionaire who would like to exploit a remote island tribe, but their one caveat is they need someone to jump into their volcano. Joe volunteers and for a week is treated like a king while learning what it means to truly live.The art direction is cartoon-y and outlandish to the point of surrealism. There are so many little throwaway gags that work so well and the acting is very strong all-around. First and foremost this film is a fable with Meg Ryan (playing three different roles) acting as a guide of sorts to Joe's ultimate revelation. It's a life affirming film. A film which despite risking being a parody of itself winds up being surprisingly astute. Joe Versus the Volcano managed to accumulate a cult following despite being a box-office bomb when it was released. Today it has some notable supporters including esteemed film critic Roger Ebert who described it as "fresh and new...".

Sometimes, the failure of a film is the fault of the audience, not the movie itself. If one goes into the theater with a particular sort of expectation, that expectation sits and waits to be fulfilled — if it isn't, the audience member eventually decides that they simply didn't like the movie. It has nothing to do with the film, necessarily: it has to do with the thoughts and feelings in the pre-stages of viewership. Take for instance, 1959's Some Like It Hot. The American Film Institute considers it to be the funniest movie ever made. With that knowledge, one expects a film so hilarious that they will be gasping for air even more than they did the first time they saw Airplane. But if the end result isn't asphyxiation, the impression will not be I loved Some Like It Hot — it will be "What did you think of Some Like it Hot?", the response coming in the form of "It was good, but not as good as Airplane." Do you see where I'm going with this?When Joe Versus the Volcano came out in 1990, it was a colossal failure; most thought of it as a disaster in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's skyrocketing personas, a nail in the career coffin of rising talent John Patrick Shanley, who wrote Norman Jewison's Moonstruck. Audiences didn't much enjoy it, Entertainment Weekly gave it an F, and it lost enough money to put itself in the Hall of Infamy (an awful place that I just made up). Watching Joe Versus the Volcano now, it's apparent that it is not a bomb, rather a movie everyone expected to be a typical Hanks/Ryan romantic comedy and got the film equivalent of your quirky neighbor down the lane. It is such a strange picture that preconceived notions really do have the power to ruin one's judgment — imagine paying to see something cute and ending up with a Jean-Luc Godard directed, existential art fantasy scripted by Nora Ephron. But as it ages, slowly completing the design of its silver lining as a cult film, Joe Versus the Volcano comes closer to reaching the two most powerful words in the history of movie critiquing: hidden — gasp — gem. (Those may not be the most powerful but they sure do make a movie sound marvelous.) Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is so depressed that he may as well star as the before picture in a depression medication ad. An ex-firefighter who has since stepped down into the confines of a soul-sucking office cubicle job, Joe is convinced that the fluorescent lights hanging above him are making him sick and that there is something seriously wrong with his well-being. He goes to the doctor (Robert Stack) and sure enough — he is diagnosed with a "brain cloud", a terminal condition that is rapidly spreading throughout his head. He is given six months to live. Where most would react in a functional Susan Hayward freakout, Joe looks at the prognosis as a new, if extremely temporary, chapter in his life. He quits his job, takes his office crush, DeDe (Meg Ryan) out to dinner, and starts to think for himself.Not long after is he approached by a millionaire, Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who offers a deal. He owns a small island, known as Waponi Woo, and its natives are facing a crisis. According to legend, a sacrifice must be made every 100 years to the island's central volcano — if not, it will explode, destroying everything in sight. Graynamore, a thinker, figures that Joe would be an ideal sacrifice (what does he have to lose?), offering him unlimited wealth in exchange for a literally life changing jump. Joe agrees without skipping a beat, developing relationships with Graynamore's daughters, Angelica and Patricia (both portrayed by Ryan), along the way.Joe Versus the Volcano is the eccentric you didn't play with during your childhood years, sitting in the corner of the room and zoning out to the pitter-patters of their imagination. With its Dick Tracy meets Pedro Almodóvar set design and baroque scenes of dialogue, there is nothing like it and there probably never will be. It is a romantic comedy, but not of the Sleepless in Seattle caliber. It is almost a fantasy, landing in a bizarre world in which every love interest is played by Ryan (in assorted wigs) and remote islands are inhabited by exotic Jews that only drink orange soda. Most importantly, though, it details characters that feel real (despite the reverie that stalks the camera); Hanks isn't his usual charismatic self, instead a guy whose social skills are just creaky enough to render him as nicely quirky as he is love-sick. All three of Ryan's portrayals offer something vital and zany to the film; the screenplay, and Hanks, are added flavors that mix in attractively to Ryan's dominance. Joe Versus the Volcano is goofy, sure, but it breathes crisp, new air while the other romantic comedies of the 1990s sat around and idled insignificantly.

You know when you're bored, tired of everything, and passes those unbearable days? In a different time of 102 minutes of your life you see color, fun, fantasy, fable drama and comedy? I can not explain, but I am the victim of "sídrome of bipolar disorder" but this film which is composed of bubbly and bright imagination and magic of Meg Ryan in 3 roles it. just awesome! no mawkishness, progressive, steady, have spent days so hard in my life that seems to be a difficult challenge to live every day ... miraculously watch this movie'm infected by optimism magic by Meg Ryan she looks like a '' Prozac '' in my life or Meg have the potential 500 times more effectiveness of any anti-depressant or a psychedelic drug in seconds factors you can see life as colorful as this film is characterized both the stereotypes presented by both Meg and Tom. I think of Tom Hanks one hour be depressed and hypochondriac and other excited hour, then gets into trouble so much, that 'an volcano shall become least problem' '. And Meg Ryan is obviously three-phase characters in Hanks' character's life. two characters very allegorical costumes, and the last naturally and charming Meg. But everything has color here, it seems a party of typical Brazilian carnival, tropical climate, scenes picturesquely paradisiac, summer nuances. It looks like a fairy tale that you have wanted to give wings to freedom and live intensely. This film is a peculiarity of Hollywood cinema, there is a flavor very Brazil into ''those Meg Ryans '' As they The brunette '' DeeDee '' A '' Angelica '' with her red hair and Blondie '' Patricia '' There many colors in this movie looks sweet and psychedelic.IS WATER,IS MOONLIGHT, IS SUN. IS EARTH, IS FIRE, iS PARADISE ... IT 'S MEG RYAN!ARE ENDLESS SUMMER NIGHTS OF DREAMS, THAT MEG RENDERED ME BY ALL THOSE YEARS.Meg Ryan gives her certificate really what is to be the Immortal America's Sweetheart.Hmmmm ... looks like a Brazilian carnivalesque will remember this movie and will using Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as Samba plot theme in a few years. Being it, Meg dead or alive .. It is a film that conveys rejoicing.

What's up with all the rave reviews here? This movie is terrible. The plot is laughable with gigantic holes in it, dialogue is horrific, acting awful(Meg Ryan), production embarrassing. A whole lot of stuff going on that makes no sense whatsoever. I had to check with my girlfriend whether I was having a psychotic episode or whether it really was that bad. It was.Hanks must've been low on cash to do this one. If you have any critical thinking going on when watching movies, skip this one, it'll annoy the hell out of you.2/10