Joe Versus the Volcano is a bizarre little romantic comedy that is about as unexpected as you can imagine. By now, early 2008, we have come to expect great things from him, and even here, in this outlandish little black sheep of a film, he shows us that early Hanks charm for which he is so known and loved. The scene when he is dancing by himself on top of the makeshift raft is a classic, for sure! Meg Ryan, on the other hand, another hugely talented actor, mostly shows here why she doesn't do accents.
She also, of course, has charm and presence, but she is very much overshadowed by Tom's. The important thing here is that they both exist in a terrible world ruled by the 40 Hour Work Week, presided over by the Terrible Boss and the cripplingly depressing atmosphere. Joe (Hanks), for example, believes that the fluorescent lights in his depressing office are slowly driving him crazy.
He goes to see a doctor, who tells him that he has something called a "brain cloud," which will kill him in six months but won't affect him physically until then. Of course, this diagnosis is the perfect reason to quit his job and tell off his boss, so Hanks gets a "telling-off" scene that is so good that you may wonder why Julia Roberts was ever allowed to do it in just about ever movie she ever made after Pretty Woman. Why didn't it become a staple in Hanks' films?
At any rate, Joe decides to leave his stifling job and live his life to the fullest, which of course leads in the most bizarre direction possible, to him being "hired" to become sacrifice himself to the volcano gods. The movie is, of course, at its most zanily creative with this idea, and yet the natives inhabiting the island are one of the only gags that just don't work. Lloyd Bridges is classic as the natives' chief, but a group of religious native islanders that worship orange soda? Come on Mr. Shanley, you can't use even the horrendous January Man as an excuse for THAT one...
Nevertheless, the movie is a curious romp into the imagination, and still has the presence of mind to make suggestions about life, reminding us once again of that all important rule of never giving in to the intolerable seriousness of it all...
She also, of course, has charm and presence, but she is very much overshadowed by Tom's. The important thing here is that they both exist in a terrible world ruled by the 40 Hour Work Week, presided over by the Terrible Boss and the cripplingly depressing atmosphere. Joe (Hanks), for example, believes that the fluorescent lights in his depressing office are slowly driving him crazy.
He goes to see a doctor, who tells him that he has something called a "brain cloud," which will kill him in six months but won't affect him physically until then. Of course, this diagnosis is the perfect reason to quit his job and tell off his boss, so Hanks gets a "telling-off" scene that is so good that you may wonder why Julia Roberts was ever allowed to do it in just about ever movie she ever made after Pretty Woman. Why didn't it become a staple in Hanks' films?
At any rate, Joe decides to leave his stifling job and live his life to the fullest, which of course leads in the most bizarre direction possible, to him being "hired" to become sacrifice himself to the volcano gods. The movie is, of course, at its most zanily creative with this idea, and yet the natives inhabiting the island are one of the only gags that just don't work. Lloyd Bridges is classic as the natives' chief, but a group of religious native islanders that worship orange soda? Come on Mr. Shanley, you can't use even the horrendous January Man as an excuse for THAT one...
Nevertheless, the movie is a curious romp into the imagination, and still has the presence of mind to make suggestions about life, reminding us once again of that all important rule of never giving in to the intolerable seriousness of it all...