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Movie Review of the Week

The copy on the packaging for Joe Versus the Volcano describes this Spielberg film as a comedy, a "laughquake." I have a new rule that does not allow me to watch a movie described as a laughquake, but I'm pretty sure the copy writer never watched this movie. There are some comic elements, some funny lines, Abe Vigoda as a tribal chief, but there is so much more.

It opens in a colorless parking lot of a factory--home of the rectal probe--and hundreds of employees are trudging through mud, muck, and trash to get to their jobs where they will spend the day being sucked up by bad lighting and stale air. While Joe is making the zig-zag trek from his car to the monolithic factory, he trips on something and rips the sole from his shoe. He reaches the office, and the secretary (Meg Ryan) asks, "What's wrong with your shoe?" And Joe replies, "I'm losing my soul." That single line sets up the film. Joe is losing his soul. He is being sucked up by his job and his surroundings and the things he is missing in life.


After being diagnosed with a brain cloud, a phony-baloney condition that is apparently terminal, he quits his job and begins the only adventure of his life--he travels to a remote island to be sacrificed to a volcano with a pretty girl (Meg Ryan again) operating the boat and a collection of trunks on board. A crazy storm destroys the boat, leaving Joe and Patricia to float seemingly until death on the steamer trunks lashed together by ropes. Joe is weak and parched. With Patricia asleep for days, he is alone and struggling when he witnesses the rising of the moon along the horizon line. He sees its birth, so to speak, stands up, and calls to God.

The couple makes it to shore, encounters the silly tribe who fear the volcano, are married by the chief, and just before they jump into the wrathful volcano, they are rescued by a rumbling eruption, set out to sea again on their steamer trunks. Joe finally finds life after being willing to sacrifice it, and when Patricia says "I wonder where we'll end up?" Joe replies, "Away from the things of man, my love. Away from the things of man."

A laughquake? If I had to make up a word to describe Joe Versus the Volcano, I think I'd form something else. This is the story of a lost man who follows the twists and turns of his life in order to find meaning. It's more of a zig-zagquake. No, I don't like that either. Maybe it's more like a soulsearcher. Oh, I don't know. I guess it doesn't need a made up word. It's just a movie that plainly shows the human condition--we all look for something more than bad lights and colorless days to make up life, don't we? We all look to travel "away from the things of man."

As a parting treat, here is Joe singing his cowboy song.

Comments

dive said…
Hi, Robyn.
I'm so happy with Ohio today, I just want to hug the whole state.
Well done!

As for Joe v. three Meg Ryans; I know it's an awful film, but I liked it. It's stupid and childish and just plain likeable.
Tom Hanks, back when he was still goofy and fun; and three (count 'em) Meg Ryans, back when she was gorgeous.
I liked "secretary" Meg best.
And I've GOT to get some luggage like that!

Thanks again for voting.
Scout said…
You're welcome, although it occurs to me you have no idea who/what I voted for. It'll be my secret. My mother always said that a person's vote is private. I'm not sure why.

I kind of liked Secretary Meg too and the scene in the restaurant when she said was very intense. You know, I must be the only person who thinks it wasn't awful. I'll stick to my beliefs, that it's a great movie.
dive said…
Your mother is right, of course. You have universal suffrage and the right to secrecy in how you vote. Liberal America has fought for that for centuries and it gladdens my heart to see it used, and to see a far higher turnout than expected.

Luckily it's no secret that Ohio went sane in a big way yesterday. A vital state, doing what is - for a selfish Socialist like myself - the right thing. Hoorah for Ohio!
I liked that movie for what it was when it was... 1980's. Ahhh the "brain fog" I've actually had those from time to time. I had a co worker at the time that movie came out and he was so obsessed by it, he talk and talk about it for the next couple of years. He would always refer to Joe Vs the volcano and making comparisons to his own life at that time. Did I make sense with this comment????
Scout said…
Rich, your comment made sense. Ha. But it's a brain CLOUD, not a brain fog. The cloud seems a little more ominous because fog clears when the sun comes up, but clouds can produce some nasty damage.
Sassy Sundry said…
Dude, my comment seems to be gone.

I'm afraid that I am allergic to Meg and Tom together (and sometimes separate), so I'm not a huge fan of this one.

I loved Meg Ryan, though, in In the Cut. She was fantastic.
Another typo... just can't seem to post a comment without one..
Meg Ryan is timeless isn't she? I love her!!
Scout said…
I don't think I ever got around to seeing In The Cut, but isn't that the film she made to prove that she wasn't just America's sweetheart? She wanted a departure from cute romance, so she did that one.

I actually kind of like her as America's sweetheart. I love Shop Around the Corner, but You've Got Mail. It was cute, and she wore skirts. How's that for shallow.
dive said…
Mmm. Cute girls in skirts.
If that's shallow, it's a shallow worth wallowing in.

I did love the start of Joe Vs …
"Sixteen Tons". Great song and a great sequence, even if the flower got stomped on.

Okay, Robyn. I admit it. Its's a great movie, and though Meg's not so cute any more, she was seriously cute back then.

If I'm not making much sense here, it's because I'm full of wine from celebrating the Rumsfeldectomy that's just happened.
Sassy Sundry said…
Yes, yes. She's cute. And in In the Cut she proved she could also act. One can be cute and act. And stay away from bad remakes of Wings of Desire.
Rob7534 said…
What a GREAT review!

My fav part was when Tom went to Los Angeles, and meets the Airhead Meg. She asks him what he does, she says something very technical sounding, and she says, "I have no response to that."

LOVED that!

I use that phrase a lot, and try to make it sound dry like she does.
Unknown said…
Robyn,
Joe Versus the Volcano has been one of my favorites for years. Whenever I admit it though, I am met with, "huh?"

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