Oct. 05, 2005 - 7:33 pm

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

we were going to the Franklyns' "Freaky Tiki Party" this past weekend and i remembered that this movie has lots of tiki stuff at the end of it. well, a little bit anyway. i also remembered that i LOVE this movie. it's awesome. the story, the style of it, the acting, the comedy. i love it all.

Joe Versus the Volcano is about a guy who works at a terrible job in the city and is a hypochondriac. he goes to see a doctor who tells him that he is going to die very soon. the doctor also sort of hooks him up with a businessman who asks Joe to go to a small unknown island in the South Pacific and jump into a volcano as part of a business proposition. Joe gets to spend as much money as he wants on his adventure and go out with a bang. along the way, Joe meets 3 different female characters, all played by Meg Ryan. it sounds silly, but i think it works.

one thing that i noticed this time while watching the movie that i had never noticed was the recurrence of a very stylized image of a crooked path. it appears no less than 4 times throughout the film. it's supposed to symbolize the crooked, winding path that we all have to take to get through life. the main idea of the movie though, is living life well, and keeping some "soul" in your life. it's pretty inspiring really.