Joe Versus the Volcano

Watch: Joe Versus the Volcano

PG-13

3/9/19901h 42m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ An average Joe. An adventurous comedy. ~

Overview:

Hypochondriac Joe Banks finds out he has six months to live, quits his dead end job, musters the courage to ask his co-worker out on a date, and is then hired to jump into a volcano by a mysterious visitor.

Director:

John Patrick Shanley

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$25,000,000.00

Revenue:

$39,400,000.00

Key words:

escape
terminal illness
orange soda
barefoot female

Cast

Tom Hanks

~ as ~

Joe Banks

Meg Ryan

~ as ~

DeDe / Angelica / Patricia Graynamore

Lloyd Bridges

~ as ~

Samuel Harvey Graynamore

Dan Hedaya

~ as ~

Frank Waturi

Ossie Davis

~ as ~

Marshall

Barry McGovern

~ as ~

Luggage Salesman

Robert Stack

~ as ~

Dr. Ellison

Amanda Plummer

~ as ~

Dagmar

Lala Sloatman

~ as ~

Waitress

Abe Vigoda

~ as ~

Chief of the Waponis

View full cast & crew

Reviews (2)

Wuchak
Written 3 year(s) ago
5
Good message, decent movie, albeit really odd

That pretty much sums up this 1990 film starring Tom Hanks as a miserable man stuck in an uninspiring job. After learning he's going to die in six months, he accepts an offer to live it up for a couple of weeks and sacrifice himself in a volcano on some nondescript Pacific island.

Right off the bat, the movie tips off that it's more fantasy than reality. There's a great message about not selling your life -- your dreams -- for whatever pathetic wage they're offering at the local factory or whatever the case. But the final act fizzles out in Giligan's Island cartooniness.

Meg Ryan co-stars in a three-pronged role.

GRADE: C+
GenerationofSwine
Written 2 year(s) ago
10
Bare with me here, because things are hazy.

I distinctly remember renting this at our old small town independent pre-Block Buster video rental establishment. Back when it stopped selling porn (for a few years) and devoted the back room to Betamax and Laser Disc before they moved on to a bigger building.

I remember riding my bike there with my father when I was ten. I remember seeing the poster in one of the two small windows. I remember the other new releases on the shelf, and I remember renting this on VHS with a Beta Danger Mouse.

And then I remember thinking it was a drama because of the start of the film, cracking up about the luggage, cracking up about the actual volcano climax, and that is about it.

But I guess the point is that I remember laughing, and that is what matters.