On
this day, March 9th 1990, twenty-five years ago, Joe versus the
Volcano, the third collaboration
between Tom Hanks and a member of the Spielberg family went on wide
release in the US. Expectations were rather high, especially since
the former two films (Richard Benjamin's The
Money Pit and Penny Marshall's Big)
were box-office hits as well.
Following
in the footsteps of Shelly Long and Elizabeth Perkins, the leading
ladies in the aforementioned The Money
Pit and Big,
was Meg Ryan, who had just had a huge world-wide hit with When
Harry Met Sally.
However,
Joe Versus the Volcano
failed to meet with the high expectations. Box-office results for Joe
stopped just short of $40 million (not much compared to the $93
million that When Harry Met Sally
or the $116 million that Big
grossed).
The
premise of Joe versus the Volcano
wasn't very uplifting to begin with, so maybe that had something to
do with the final results...
Joe,
the main character, (portrayed by Tom Hanks) is diagnosed with an
incurable disease, quits his job, and accepts an offer to briefly
"live like a king, die like a man" instead of waiting for
his end to come.
To
fulfill his agreement (after he has been offered the life of a king,
as promised) he must willingly jump into a live volcano on the island
of Waponi Woo in order to appease the volcano god.
En
route to the island, Joe meets a series of interesting characters in
NYC and LA, then boards a yacht, captained by Patricia (played by Meg
Ryan). During the voyage Joe and Patricia survive disaster, fall in
love, and finally arrive at the island where they will have to face
their destiny.
The
film was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who debuted as
a director with this film. John has only ever written and directed
one feature after this (Doubt,
starring Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, based on the play
he had so succfully produced on Broadway) in 2008.
However
he has written a lot of screenplays (We're
Back- a Dinosaur's Tale, Alive
and Congo
to name a few) and has been doing a lot of work on Broadway.
Meg
Ryan has starred in a lot of lighthearted romantic comedies since
(even a few with co-star Tom Hanks that were a lot more successful,
like Sleepless in Seattle
and You've Got Mail.
Tom
hanks hasn't done very bad since then either. He has starred in a lot
of box-office hits, including a few directed by our Steven, like
Saving Private Ryan,
Catch me if You Can,
The Terminal
and the soon to be released (well October isn't that far away
actually) St.James Place
and he also gained a lot of success as a producer of hit-series like
The Pacific
and Band of Brothers
(both teaming him again with Spielberg).
So
maybe it's time to give the film a second chance ?
Ronny.
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