Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) - Weasello Rating: {>>--} (Ok)
I'm not an ass so you won't find any spoilers in this review without decent warning.
This movie was just plain ol' OK.
One day during casual conversation, a friend of mine became distressed at the fact that I had not viewed this "fantastic" movie, which is, obviously, "hilarious." For a few weeks, it rested in the back of my mind, until I finally rented it.
Until I saw it in the video store, I had no idea that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were in it. I thought it would be some new-ish, weird, crazy comedy about a guy fighting a volcano. But no, it's a romantic comedy featuring two of the tamest actors out there.
Setting aside my disgruntled attitude (I usually do not enjoy romantic comedies), I rented it anyways and brought it back home.
Much like a volcano, this movie was raining down fire balls of suck. There was a glowing orange river of suck illuminating my living room. In my chair, 8 feet from the television, I could feel the sucky heat.
Upon retrospect, however, it wasn't that bad. The movie was, after all, made in 1990 - and I suppose that it was an OK movie in that respect. It did have it's moments, where I laughed out loud, but not many.
I did, however, like the movie from an artistic point of view. During the opening credits, watching Tom Hanks workplace - it was very dramatic, and very well done. From the drab grey and dark browns, to the crooked path that each employee had to follow into their office - it was very neat.
Meg Ryan was awesome in the movie - I didn't realize until halfway through, but she plays 3 different roles - all love interests of Tom Hanks. I have much more respect for Ryan now that I've seen this. Each role she played was varied and different, and now I know she can perform characters other than her type-set role of today.
Even though I thought it sucked so much at first, as the movie started winding down I got more and more into it. This movie is worth watching, but I would never rent it again.
Recommendation: Watch this if you're bored tonight. It's ok to put it off for a while.
Main Cast:
From the Box:
"A lot of laughs. Inspired lunacy." - Jack Garner, Gannett News Service
TOM HANKS - MEG RYAN
An Average Joe.
An Adventurous Comedy.
JOE VERSUS THE
VOLCANO
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 direted 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, playuing each woman in Joe's life.
When we first meet Joe, he has the white-collar 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 hapen 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 Joe doomed to be the last of the red-hot lovers? Not if the forces of courage, love and comedy have their way.
an AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT production
a film by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
original music score by GEORGES DELERUE film editor RICHARD HALSEY, a.c.e.
production designer BO WELCH director of photography STEPHEN GOLDBLATT, a.s.c.
executive producers STEVEN SPIELBERG, KATHLEEN KENNEDY and FRANK MARSHALL
written by JOHN PATRCIK SHANLEY
produced by TERI SCHWARTZ directed by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
(c) 1990 Warner Bros. Inc.
Sources: The IMDB roxx0rz you. Also got some from my head and most from the box. |
