eichler2 I can fully understand why this movie currently has a 5.7 average rating. The first time I saw it, I didn't like it at all. It wasn't until years later that a co-worker's constant quoting of "I know he can get the job, but can he DO the job?" combined with finding the DVD in a cut-out bin for $5 prompted me to watch it again.Part of the problem is that the promotional trailer sold the film as a colorful, screwball, romantic comedy. But it starts out looking about a bleak as you'll ever find in a major studio "comedy". It's not until a third of the way into the film that Hanks' character starts living his life and color starts seeping into the movie. It's not until nearly two thirds of the way into the film that the main romantic couple finally meet. After that, the movie eventually becomes that colorful screwball comedy that the trailer promised, but by then it had probably lost half its audience.You won't find too many other major Hollywood productions complete with big name actors that come close to the surreal, symbolic fable quality of Joe Verses the Volcano. The movie's moral seems to be that you should really live your life, doing the things you want to do with the people you want to be with. Don't waste your life slaving away at a dead-end job that you don't even like. Of course, that's easy to say when you think you're dying and some multi-billionaire gives you an unlimited credit card in return for jumping into a volcano.Overall, there are enough funny bits and quotable lines to make this movie worth watching, and it might actually make you think a bit and reflect on life in general. Meg Ryan is pretty amazing playing three very different roles, with Patricia at the end of the film being about as adorable as Ryan gets. Tom Hanks on the other hand - to be honest, I've never been a big fan of his, and he seems kind of miscast in this movie. For some reason while I was watching it, I kept thinking that Joe would have been a good role for Dudley Moore.

Blake Peterson 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.

kwright-28 I have seen this movie probably 8-10 times. I am drawn to it, lock on to it, can't resist it. From the opening scenes to the end, I love this movie. I love that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were brave enough to make it. Yes, it was pretty much trashed by the critics, but movies are funny; they are completely subjective, so one person's swallop is another's caviar. So who is Joe? He's a miserable man trapped in a rotten life and all his options have long faded away. But a weird proposition comes to him and being so miserable, he accepts. So begins his journey to the volcano. In the telling of the tale, we see why Joe is so miserable (he does have reasons)and why the offer given to him was accepted. He meets new people on the way, discarding his old life completely. His life becomes a roller coaster of new experiences, some good, some not so much. But all through it, he seems to keep his balance, unfortunately because he expects to receive nothing and is pleased and surprised when something great happens. Meg Ryan plays three different characters and they all interact with Joe on a different level. If you watched this movie before, give it another try, if for nothing less than to see Joe dancing on his luggage in the middle of the open sea.

iain-218 ...and I've watched a few.There is so much going on in this movie and I am not sure that Hanks and Ryan understood exactly what they were a part of, but then that is also a message we can take from it - who really understands life?Other messages; we are all in danger of losing our soul; life is a crooked path; clothes maketh the man; once you are a grown up no-one feels good (implying that we should not allow that to happen); embrace your destiny no matter how bad it might lookAnd the above are just a small subset. Symbolism is rife, the sets are a clever mixture of real and surreal, the script is tight, the storyline flies along, and the entire event is a sparkling jewel. Of course you might not agree with any of this, its not in IMDb's top 500, but it takes someone special to jump into a volcano.