By Robert Scucci
| Published
Finding a purpose in life isn’t always easy, and sometimes you need a reminder to live your life to the fullest like in Joe Versus the Volcano. Are the workplace fluorescents sucking the life out of you one eight-hour shift at a time to the point where you try to invent illnesses so you could get a day off? Has an ever-increasing sense of occupational dread caused you to give up on your dreams and succumb to the daily drudgery of the rat race?
Well, the same thing happens to Tom Hanks’ Joe Banks in Joe Versus the Volcano, and he learns a thing or two about focusing on what matters, even if his approach may seem a little unconventional.
Never Trust A Doctor
Joe Versus the Volcano immediately paints a bleak picture about company men and women trudging into the workplace under a pallid sky, but only before they enter a facility thats illuminated with various hues of grey and green thanks to the constantly flickering and dirty fluorescent lights hanging overhead. Working in the advertising department for American Panascope, a company that made its fortune selling rectal probes and petroleum jelly, Joe’s simply going through the motions because he’s a hypochondriac who’s terrified of his boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya).
Joe experiences a number of imagined health problems, which are the result of the traumas he experienced while working as a firefighter before starting his employment at American Panascope, and as a result hasn’t felt like himself for years. So much, in fact, he never fully reveals his feelings to his coworker, DeDe (Meg Ryan).
Forever afraid that he’s coming down with some unknown terminal illness, Joe pays a visit to Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack), who suggests he’s suffering from a “brain cloud,” leaving him with only six months to live.
Joe finds himself in a unique situation when Dr. Ellison violates his Hippocratic oath in Joe Versus the Volcano by tipping off the exceedingly wealthy superconductor tycoon, Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who may have a use for him, given his supposed declining health.
Living Out His Last Days In Style
Joe is made an offer he can’t refuse in the form of getting an all-expenses paid trip to the island of Waponi Woo. The Waponi people living on the island have the access Samuel needs to continue his manufacturing process, but they need a human sacrifice to jump into their volcano so they could appease their angry fire god and continue to drink orange soda.
Knowing that he has nothing to lose in Joe Versus the Volcano, our hero goes on the shopping spree of a lifetime, lays down Samuel’s credit cards, takes a flight to Las Angeles to meet the industry titan’s daughter, Angelica (also Meg Ryan), who then leads him to her half-sister, Patricia (Meg Ryan, again), to board her yacht, the Tweedledee.
Knowing that he’s not going to survive his plunge into the volcano, Joe tries to keep the intent behind his adventure a secret, even though he’s slowly but surely starting to bond with Patricia, and begins to have second thoughts about following through with Samuel’s instructions. Realizing that being on the verge of death is the first time he’s ever truly feel alive, Joe perseveres against the elements to do what he set out to do, which forces him to make the most difficult decision in his life when he finally approaches his destination.
Equal Parts Surreal And Sentimental
Joe Versus the Volcano sets out to show its viewers that there’s more to living than simply surviving, and how sometimes you can only experience the clarity you’re looking for once you’ve hit rock bottom. It’s also bittersweet in the sense that once you achieve the level of clarity that you’re looking for, it may be too late to live your life with intent because you already agreed to embark on an all-inclusive one-way trip to your inevitable death, and have to see that whole thing through or suffer the consequences (also death, but slower and more agonizing).
If you happen to find yourself feeling a little existential, and need a quality 1990s rom-com to help take the edge off, you can stream Joe Versus the Volcano for free on Tubi as of this writing.
