penguinopolipitese This movie I would probably give a score in the low to mid 70s. It's actually one of my favourites but it isn't some extraordinary masterpiece. It's one of those movies, however, that stands alone and is unique. I would describe it as a story book on film. All of the actors play their parts quite beautifully. The hanks/ryan pairing started out with this film and it is obvious why the formula continued successfully in later films. You've got for example Nathan Lane, Abe Vigoda, and Lloyd Bridges in just ridiculous and unexpected roles and the whole cast makes it fun. The whole absurd story manages to be work I think because like most good fiction it has a grounding in reality and then dramatizes it for effect. In the case of this film the dramatization is outlandish and crazy but it also makes it a lot of fun. I'd recommend this for a boring night where you just want to have some fun and aren't looking for something particularly mind blowing.

SnoopyStyle Joe Bank (Tom Hanks) has a depressing job in the Advertising Dept of American Panascope in Long Island City, New York. They make rectal probes. He suffers under his supervisor Mr. Waturi (Dan Hedaya). He's diagnosed with terminal brain cloud with six months to live. He quits and asks out his co-worker DeDe (Meg Ryan). Wealthy businessman Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges) needs to placate locals on an island to mine a rare mineral. He hires Joe to jump into the volcano to appease their god. Joe hires limo driver Marshall (Ossie Davis) to help him spend the money. Samuel's flighty daughter Angelica (Meg Ryan) picks him up at the airport in L.A. Angelica's half-sister Patricia (Meg Ray) captains the yacht that brings him to the island.I like his surrealistic work life. It reminds me of Brazil. The movie does get uneven at times. After getting the credit cards, Joe goes back into the real world. I expected more surrealism. After that, the surrealism returns with Meg Ryan playing another character. It makes shopping in Manhattan out of step.The 3 Meg Ryan performances are a little jarring at first. I enjoy DeDe as a little wacky and a little darker than her usual fare. Angelica is not as enjoyable. She seems to be trying to hard with her voice. She should pull back a little with the crazy voice and she could replace Ossie Davis on his shopping trips. Patricia is classic Meg and shows their easy chemistry once again. Overall, this may be uneven at times but there are plenty of interesting imaginative concepts.

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.

SimonJack "Joe Versus the Volcano" is a mixed bag of comedy, romance, fantasy and adventure. The comedy is a little on the dark side initially, but then brings in some outlandish stuff for laughs toward the end, including some hilarious history. One suspects, however, that many modern viewers (i.e., younger) may not catch that. For instance, Patricia (one of three characters that Meg Ryan plays very well) reads the history of Waponi Woo, the fictitious Pacific Island they are sailing toward. It was settled 1,800 years ago after a Roman galley with a crew of druids and Jews was caught in a huge storm off Carthage (in the Mediterranean Sea off North Africa). "They were swept a thousand miles off course and wound up on the wrong side of the horn of Africa (in the Indian Ocean). Thinking they were returning to Rome, they sailed deep into the South Pacific and finally ended up colonizing a lightly populated Polynesian Island." No wonder the Waponi's were known to lack a sense of direction. But, as outlandish as the storm is that carried them more than a couple thousand miles away, the crew makeup is even more hilarious. The Romans had just conquered the druid areas of England in the first century, and by the second century, the druids had all but disappeared. While the Bible tells us of the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, the ancient Jews were not a seafaring nation So, a Roman galley with a crew of druids and Jews would be a truly hilarious fictitious arrangement. Then, as Joe (played by Tom Hanks) and Patricia come ashore, the natives are singing a song to the tune of "Hava Nagila." ("Let Us Rejoice"), a modern Jewish festival song. Patricia concluded reading the background on the island and people, "Thus was born the Waponi culture, a mixture of Polynesian, Celtic, Hebrew and Latin influences."The story is quirky and the parts of the plot don't seem to blend together well. The writing is weak and the direction and editing aren't quite in sync. The best thing of the movie is the cast and the performances of all. It's especially a good vehicle for the talents of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Ryan steals the scenes she is in as DeDe and Angelica, because we know that that's Meg Ryan under the quirky makeup. The movie is fun to watch once, but that's about it.