Joe Versus The Volcano

The Rom Com Rewrite

For this month’s episode, long-time listener first-time caller Liz Bailey joins Lisa and Charles Adrian from Cardiff for a wide-ranging discussion about the first film in the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan cinematic universe.

Joe Versus The Volcano

Year: 1990

Screenplay by: John Patrick Shanley

Director: John Patrick Shanley

Stars: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan

Show notes:

Is this a rom com? In this episode we more or less abandon our search for meet-cutes, obstacles and happy endings in order to zero in on what each of us want from a romantic film that may, like this one, also be very funny. Some of us have also climbed volcanoes in real life.

You can find an image of the poster for this film on imdb.com here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099892/

Charles Adrian references the artist L. S. Lowry, who you can read about on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._S._Lowry. Liz references filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who you can read about on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Godard, and the Tom Hanks/Shelley Long film The Money Pit (1986) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091541/). Also mentioned are the films High Society (1956) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049314/), Twister (1996) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117998/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), Jurassic Park (1993) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), Jaws (1975) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), Die Hard (1988) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) and She’s All That (1999) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160862/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), as well as Jane Austin’s Persuasion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion_(novel)).

We record these episodes over the internet. Sometimes the audio is not perfect. We apologise for that. Also, due to circumstances beyond our control, there is some noise of pneumatic drilling intermittently audible in the background of this episode from about 28 minutes in; apologies for that too.

Music in this episode is by Martin Zaltz Austwick (martinzaltzaustwick.com). Artwork is by Lisa Findley.

Thank you for listening!