To get the full measure of romantic comedies, one only has to watch the "Tom & Meg Trilogy" (1. Joe vs. The Volcano 2. Sleepless in Seattle 3. You've Got Mail)
'Sleepless' and 'Mail' seem to get all the credit nowadays, but I think it's important that we not overlook "Joe". Though often bashed as the low point of Hanks carrer, the Joe Banks character is a timeless image of a man searching for meaning in his life ... now this is a romantic comedy, so of course he finds meaning by falling in love with Meg Ryan.
Iteresting (to me at least) is that Hanks' character in 'Mail" is also named Joe ..... to bad he was a Sam in 'Sleepless'. Both charachters go through similar transitions - though not as colorful. Joe Fox (F-O-X) finds that he can love someone that trully iritates him enough to chase her. Sam Baldwin on the other hand, finds that he can love again.
I have much more to say about Volcano than Sleepless or Mail - but maybe that's just me trying to stand up for the underdog. How terrible would it be to work for a company that makes plastic replacement testicles - then again, I work in collections.
Thoughout the movie,the viewer is skillfully moved along a carefully crafted color experience like black sludge-like coffee vs. orange soda and blue rain colored streets vs. red lava capped volcanoes. One of the most striking scenes in the movie, shows a pre-Castaway Hanks stranded on a raft in the ocean. Cold and thirsty, he awakens in the middle of the night to see a gigantic moon filling the horizon. This real lunar light is contrasted with the fake fluorecents in his dead-end job. He cries out, "Oh God - I forgot how BIG you are.
I laugh anytime Hanks says the word ... BIG, or Buddies, or Castaway, or Splash, or Benjamin, or Apollo ... well you get the picture - I laugh at Hanks a lot.
6 comments:
You know too much! :)
Hanks is WAY cool. BTW the raft was actually the 4 pieces of luggage he bought for his trip that were water resistent and able to float. GOOD PURCHASE! Everything else from the boat sank minus hanks and ryan. :)
There is nothing so important to the world traveler than good luggage.
" ... may you live to be a thousand years old."
Interestingly enough, I have never seen Joe Versus the Volcano. In my opinion, Mail was better than Sleepless, but I am not a qualified connoisseur so my opinion may not mean too much.
I felt more for the characters in Sleepless, but the storyline in Mail seemed better paced.
I liked mail better the sleepless. Sleepless is good, but put me to sleep. It moved way to slow for me.
I have seen all 3 in the trilogy. It is hard to remember details.
I was hoping to see them start dating or get married in Sleepless. I should watch "You've got mail" again.
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