Hanks not happy with Joe?

I tried to catch the part of his Inside the Actors' Studio to see what he said about it, but I always tune in too late. I've heard rumors (mostly on these boards) that he is embarrassed by the movie because it was something of a flop, and is almost universally crapped on (by idiots - recent years have proven that it is a wonderful movie). He often lightheartedly makes fun of Bosom Buddies and Turner and Hooch, but I've never heard him make even a reference to this movie.
As far as I'm concerned, JVV leaves Forrest Gump and Catch Me if You Can in the dust...

I think Tom Hanks might be one of those people who think that only dramas can be great -- that comedies are just silly pieces of fluff you watch to pass the time.

If so, I'm guessing that the "5 good films" he's referring to are the relatively dramatic ones: Philladelphia, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, and Road to Perdition.

Then again . . . maybe Hanks was just being modest when he said he's made five good films. Maybe he really likes more of his films than five, but he's afraid if he admits it he'll seem full of himself.

Here are my top five favorite Tom Hanks movies:

1 - Joe Versus the Volcano
2 - You've Got Mail
3 - Big
4 - Catch Me if You Can
5 - The Green Mile


Here are my five LEAST favorite Tom Hanks movies:

1 - The 'burbs
2 - Volunteers
3 - Turner & Hooch
4 - Bonfire of the Vanities
5 - The Man with One Red Shoe


“Liars sit in chairs. Truth-tellers just sort of . . . hunker down.”

Back to the subject at hand.....why is Hanks not happy with Joe?

Hanks was coming off a series of commercial flops that started with Punchline and ended with Bonfire of the Vanities....JVtV got wedged between these flops (and for the record, I really liked Punchline--very good, underrated performances from Hanks and Sally Field).

The streak of flops ended with "A League of Their Own" in 1992 and Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia came out the following year--thus announcing the "new Tom Hanks."

So Joe Versus the Volcano failed to catch on, and Hanks reacted by making fun of it (which he did in an interview I saw in the late '90s). I lost a little respect for him. He should stand by this movie. It's his best work--no question.

Well I gotta go now Duane.....I'm due back on the planet Earth

[deleted]

It's definitly my favorite Tom Hanks movie, I have watched it more times than all the others combined and am quite puzzled (actually as I write this post/review I am less puzzled) as to why it is not on tv anywhere close to as much as Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail are, they seem to be on at least once a month and Joe Vs. The Volcano has rarely, if ever been broadcast, at least I have never seen it on tv. Puzzling because if it was simply because that it was a flop at the cinema it would still, in my opinion, be perfect fodder for tv, since more people would tune in to see the stars they didn't see at the theatre and the story is entertaining enough, and it's even a 'cult classic' to some degree. I have seen Volunteers and the 'burbs enough times on tv to know a flop when I see it haven't you?

OK, and now is the part where you might tune out and think I am just nuts and maybe I am, but here goes anyway.

Joe Vs. The Volcano is too good, it is too positive. You, the true fan of this movie are that person that Patricia is talking about when she says "My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement."

Face it, too much of real life is depicted, oh so poeticly, at the begining of the movie, you trudge to work and work is, for most of us, uncomfortable but we put up with it, always wishing for the courage to fill our hearts and minds until they burst but we cower in our jobs because to take that risk, that leap of faith, we would risk losing everything, our material posessions, our standing in the community, in the flock, in the herd.

The concept of a meaningfull life is a deep one, one that possibly crosses all of our minds from time to time, why are we here on this planet? to toil? perhaps to be brave?

Breaking out of depression and hypochrondria are amazing victories, and at the risk of sounding like a tin-foil-hat wearing lunatic uber-leftwing nut with a conspiracy theory, if I advertised medicine on tv and essentially encouraged people to assume their general malaise was due to a problem that a pill could cure, I wouldn't necessarily want to promote the idea of a miricalous, free, cure (being in control of your own life and death)...and suicide is not good for business either.

Suicide, while abhorant for the obvious and culturally ingrained reasons, stands as an option that makes us realise our inherent biological freedoms. Does the soul live after the body dies? Remember that Joe had a spiritual awakening in the movie, but not necessarily a religious one. Could this movie have angered some people in it's somewhat casual use of suicide for personal gain? How many people out there are on the brink of suicide but only have horror movies to contemplate? How often is suicide given a positive touch? Could this idea, no matter how extreme it obviously is, be 'too much freedom' for a world run by religion and business?

Tom Hanks may not be one of those people who are 'awake' but he sure did a great acting job in the movie, my guess as to why he doesn't gush about it is not because it was a flop, but because he has been encouraged to not do so, perhaps not directly but with subtle pressure from the industry.

It is controversial, suicide is not to be taken lightly in this world where people are consumers first and individuals second. Big pharmacuetical companies don't want to make people question wether they are hypochrondriacs or not, religions don't want to lose customers to the idea of a God not associated with a branded religion and business doesn't want to promote the idea that our lives are not necessarily dependant on our jobs.

Business, religion and especially those that advertise on televison may not see Joe vs. The Volcano as a harmless romp and thus less 'controversial' Hanks movies are shown instead of this one and Tom Hanks is just going with the flow and downplaying his job in Joe Vs. The Volcano but I know that I like to think that he treasures it as much as we do!