Joe Versus The Volcano Details

For his directorial debut, Oscar-winning Moonstruck screenwriter John Patrick Shanley came up with an oddity — a flawed but still entertaining comedy adventure. Tom Hanks is the downtrodden office worker who, on discovering that he has only a short time to live, accepts the proposition of a shady millionaire (Lloyd Bridges) who offers him anything he wants for 20 days, after which he must throw himself into a living volcano on a remote island. Meg Ryan pops up en route playing three different women in Hanks's life. The best bits are at the beginning with Shanley creating a Brazil-like portrait of the office from hell, but it runs out of steam long before Hanks reaches the volcano. Nevertheless, Hanks is as dependable as ever and there are nice cameos from Robert Stack, Ossie Davis, Dan Hedaya, and Abe Vigoda — Barney Miller, The Godfather — as an unlikely Pacific island chief.

Shanley's full-blown romantic fantasy, shot almost entirely on stylised sets, is a dreamlike allegory about heroism and... read more on Time Out