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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 4501
Released: April 2, 2002 |
| Our Price: $4.09 |
| Used Price: $2.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Laughs erupt when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fall in love and fall in lava in Joe Versus the Volcano, a colorful, stylish laughquake written and directed by Moonstruck Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley. As Joe, Hanks adds to his phenomenal string of successes that includes, Splash, Big and Turner & Hooch. And Meg Ryan follows up her starmaking When Harry Met Sally...with three roles, playing each of the women in Joe's life. When we first meet Joe, he has the white-color blues. Every day is Monday, the boss is always in a bad mood and the cumulative stresses convince Joe he has a terminal condition called a "brain cloud." So when a zany jillionaire pops up and offers him a fleeting taste of the good life, Joe leaps at the chance. All he must do in return is leap into a volcano. But funny things happen on the way from the urban isle of Manhattan to the remote tropical isle of Waponi Woo... Out of the corporate frying pan. Into the fire. Is Joes doomed to be the last of the red-hot lovers? Not if the forces of courage, love and comedy have their way.
DVD Features:
Documentary
Filmographies
Interactive Menus
Music Video:Eric Burdon, "Sixteen Tons"
Other
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer
Description of Joe Versus the Volcano:
Joe Versus the Volcano is a true early-1990s cult film. This fantasy-comedy was the first pairing of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, yet it polarizes viewers like a Blue Velvet or Happiness. As the only directorial effort from John Patrick Shanley (the Oscar-winning writer of Moonstruck), it is something special, and it's hard to resist the film's feather-light heart tugging. Joe Banks is having the life sucked out of him at a dead-end job. Miserable in his gray surroundings with stark fluorescent lighting, Joe dreams of being brave again. A visit to the doctor reveals that he has a "brain cloud." It's fatal, but he'll be fine for a few more months. An eccentric millionaire, Samuel Harvey Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), hears of Joe's predicament and comes to him with a proposal: The people of the Pacific island of Waponi Woo need a human sacrifice to appease their gods. Why not live like a king for a few weeks, then throw yourself into a volcano? (Graynamore needs a sacrificial victim to offer in exchange for permission to mine the island for a rare mineral.) Joe accepts Graynamore's lavish proposal and on his journey meets three romantic possibilities (all played by Ryan). Joe embraces life; so does the movie. It's packed with smile-inducing supporting performances by Bridges, Ossie Davis, Robert Stack, and Dan Hedaya; playful songs ("Sixteen Tons," "Ol' Man River," Presley's version of "Blue Moon"); and amusing scenes (such as Joe buying luggage). Add the daring, imaginative production design of Bo Welch (Edward Scissorhands), Hanks and Ryan's chemistry, and Georges Delerue's romantic music and you have a film to fall for. --Doug Thomas
Joe Versus the Volcano Reviews:
Satisfied 
2009-10-06 - This came in a timely manor and I'm assuming it works. I haven't watched it yet.
Make no mistake: this is a solid comedy!
2009-10-06 - Does it have toilet humor? No. Does it have fart jokes? No. Does it have lots of sexual innuendo? Not really. So what makes me think that this is a solid comedy? Because it's much better than most lame comedies that are out right now! This is a brilliant 1990 film that features Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (the same duo that you find in Sleepless in Seattle). Sure, it moves very slow, but that's how this sort of comedy works. What you get are people who are tired with their dead-end job, a week on a raft that's made of luggage, and . . . Abe Vigoda as a chief of a pacific island?! WHAT THE . . . okay, I'll not get into that. I'll just say that this is something that's really out of the ordinary. Sure, there are some things that are really silly, but once you get past that, you'll see the satire, the references to classic literature, and the fascinating philosophies that go with the entire film. It's something to look forward to whether you're a fan of Hanks, Ryan, or comedies that don't rely too much on very lame humor.
Odd but Good 
2009-08-02 - Originally, I thought Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had only done Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. When I found out they'd done another movie together, I had to see it. It wasn't what I was expecting, at all. But it was definitely original. I enjoyed the sharp contrast of Meg's various characters, and the strong drive of Joe (a downtrodden man in an exceedingly dull and gray world) to find something more in his life. The imagery in this movie is striking and weird, but I was inexplicably drawn to it. As the story progresses, their stories begin to intertwine, and ultimately come together in a quirky, nontraditional love-story-esque way. See this movie for its oddities, and for the fact that it's a must see in terms of pop culture (Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan!) Don't go looking for too much plot or character development, and you'll enjoy it thoroughly.
Away from the things of man ...
2009-07-21 - The first time I saw this movie I thought it was too silly for words. But, on second viewing a decade later, I now think it is silly enough to warrant a few words.
This is, first and foremost, a fairy tale. There isn't a shred of realism to it, nor was there any attempt to foist it off as realistic. Joe Banks, an unhappy hypochondriac stuck in a job working PR for a factory making petroleum jelly (Home of the Anal Probe), is diagnosed with a "Brain Cloud" and given six months to live. Almost immediately, he is offered a job as a human sacrifice. When told he can "live like a king for six months, and die like a man!" Joe replies, "Sure." The rest of the plot moves on in predictable fashion. Joe is handed six credit cards, spends like mad, is flown out to LA, shipped to the South Pacific and falls in love with Meg Ryan no less than three times. ("You know, the first time I saw you, I thought that I'd seen you before.")
The movie has some truly hilarious moments. When Joe and Patricia (Meg Ryan) finally reach the Waponi Island, where Joe is to jump into the volcano, they are greeted with a chorus of Hava Nagila. (The Waponis are a mix of Keltic, Jewish and Polynesian.) There are lovely cameos--Carol Kane as the hairdresser (only for a second, but it was worth it). And Ossie Davis is a show-stopper as the chauffeur. Lloyd Bridges did a great job as the hard-driving millionaire who dupes Joe into jumping into the volcano, and Dan Hedaya is memorably unbearable as Joe's insufferable boss. ("I'm not arguing with you! Who told you that? I'm not arguing with you!")The last scene, "Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna take this luggage with us," was priceless.
But the reason I enjoyed this movie so much the second time round was not because the story was sweet, or the lines funny, or because Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks make a cute couple, but for one scene alone. Joe is standing on his luggage, stranded in the middle of the ocean, dying of thirst when the full moon rises. What he says at that moment, dwarfed by the hugeness of the moon, made the whole film more than just a quirky little fairy tale. "I forgot how big..." he says, in tones of pure awe. That one moment beautifully expresses the point of this movie. At one time or another in our humdrum little lives, we forget 'how big', and long to get "away from the things of man." Joe Banks achieves that goal for all of us.
Enchanting, Whimsical, Profound - A Most Special Movie
2009-06-11 - This treasure of a movie is an enchanting blend of comedy, fantasy, and philosophy. It is a little gem, a fable, a lovely, whimsical dream that allows us to take a look at ourselves and the lives we lead. If I had to recommend one movie that has "important" things to say, it would be "Joe Versus the Volcano."
In this Odyssey, Joe Banks, the movie's main character, realizes he has to change his life after finding out he has a "brain cloud." Visited by Samuel Graynamore, played by the wonderful Lloyd Bridges, he is given a chance to "live like a king and die like a hero" if he will agree to jump into a volcano on a Polynesian Island. Thus begins a fairy tale journey to the "Big Woo." His crooked road there leads him to a new understanding of life, a new appreciation of the world, true love, and the importance of one's soul. Joe learns that in life you must choose between being asleep or awake. As Patricia (Meg Ryan) says in the movie:
"My father says almost the whole world's asleep.
Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to.
He says only a few people are awake.
And they live in a state of constant, total amazement."
"Joe Versus the Volcano" teaches that you can go through this world alive and yet not be alive. Like Joe, you can be dead and walking around. But it also teaches that you can change all of that if you really want to. All you need to do is have a little faith and the courage to take some risks. To quote Patricia again:
"Nobody knows anything, Joe.
We'll take this leap, and we'll see.
We'll jump, and we'll see.
That's life, right?"
Many thanks to John Patrick Shanley, who wrote, directed, and infused this charming film with a rich tapestry of recurring symbols. Here are a few to look for when you watch JVTV: nautical symbols, the volcano, ducks, the rose, the big dog, Joe's hats, the zigzag, closed and open hands, the moon, and many others. Although silly at times, at heart, this lovely movie is showing us how we can live our lives well. I "tip my hat" to Mr. Shanley. "May you live to be a thousand years old, sir."
I also want to thank the production crew and the wonderful actors who worked so hard to make JVTV so special. Meg Ryan, who plays three different characters, gives her best performance in this "little" movie - what a marvelous job of acting. Tom Hanks is the perfect Joe Banks and the supporting actors are superb: Ossie Davis, who plays Marshall; Barry McGovern, who plays the luggage salesman; Lloyd Bridges, who plays Samuel Graynamore; Abe Vigoda, who plays the Waponi Chief; Dan Hedaya, who plays Frank Waturi, Carol Kane, who plays Cassandra, the hair dresser, and many others - thanks for such a wonderful film. I would also be remiss if I didn't tender a special thanks to the late Georges Delerue for his hauntingly beautiful original music score. "Marooned Without You" will always be one of my favorite songs.
This movie is like no other. It is utterly unique, and you can go to it again and again to lift your spirits and renew your soul. It will whisper its beguiling sea-song to you, if you listen.
So, let Joe, Patricia, and the gang show you how to leap into that volcano and enjoy this most lovely of movies.
Good luck, and have a great "journey."
