Editing Joe Versus the Volcano (section)

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film opened in 1,082 theaters on March 9, 1990, grossing $9.2 million on its opening weekend.<ref name="THR 1990">{{cite magazine|title='Volcano' explodes at $9.2 mil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBsIAQAAMAAJ|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]| date=December 3, 1990 |volume=311|issue=35–50|page=1|issn=0018-3660}}</ref> It opened at number two at the U.S. box office, behind ''[[The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October]]''.<ref name="THR 1990" />

''Joe Versus the Volcano'' went on to gross a total of $39,404,261.<ref name="mojo" />

===Critical response===
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "''Joe Versus the Volcano'' erupts with plenty of screwball energy and thoughtful observations about living to the fullest, but its existential ambition may prove too goofy for some audiences."<ref>{{cite web |title=Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joe_versus_the_volcano |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=October 16, 2023}}</ref> At [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joe vs the Volcano Reviews |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/joe-versus-the-volcano |website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=July 14, 2020}}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemascore.com|title=Find CinemaScore|format=Type "Joe Versus" in the search box|publisher=[[CinemaScore]]|access-date=July 14, 2020}}</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] wrote in his review: "Not since ''[[Howard the Duck (film)|Howard the Duck]]'' has there been a big-budget comedy with feet as flat as those of ''Joe Versus the Volcano''. Many gifted people contributed to it, but there's no disbelieving the grim evidence on the screen."<ref>{{cite web | first=Vincent | last=Canby | title=A Terminal Ad Man, a God, And a South Pacific Volcano | url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE0DA1539F93AA35750C0A966958260 | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=March 9, 1990 | access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref> Upon its release, ''Time''{{'}}s Andrea Sachs called it a "wan bit of whimsy ... [that] makes no more sense than its synopsis, though Meg Ryan beguiles in three different roles."<ref>{{cite magazine | first=Andrea | last=Sachs | title=Critics Voices | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969722,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215160803/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969722,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 15, 2008 | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=April 2, 1990 | access-date=April 30, 2017 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Fifteen years later, ''Time'' critic [[Richard Schickel]] listed it as one of his "Guilty Pleasures"; while acknowledging "there are people who think this film... may be the worst big budget film of modern times," Schickel disagreed: "...you set aside the routine comic expectations its marketing encouraged, you may find yourself entranced by a movie that is utterly ''[[sui generis]]''."<ref>{{cite magazine | first=Richard | last=Schickel | title=''Joe Versus the Volcano'', 1990, John Patrick Shanley, U.S. | url=https://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/slide/joe-versus-the-volcano-1990-john-patrick-shanley-u-s/ | magazine=Time | date=January 19, 2010 | access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' a score of 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "new and fresh and not shy of taking chances... [the film] achieves a kind of magnificent goofiness. Hanks and Ryan are the right actors to inhabit it, because you can never catch them going for a gag that isn't there: They inhabit the logic of this bizarre world and play by its rules."<ref>{{cite web | first=Roger | last=Ebert | title=Joe Versus the Volcano | url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/joe-versus-the-volcano-1990 | work=RogerEbert.com | publisher=Ebert Digital LLC | date=March 9, 1990 |access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref> He later brought the film to Ebertfest 2012 and wondered "why he gave 3.5 stars instead of 4."<ref>{{cite web | last=Ebert | first=Roger | title=Introducing the films of Ebertfest 2012 | url=http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/introducing-the-films-of-ebertfest-2012 | work=RogerEbert.com | publisher=Ebert Digital LLC | date=March 20, 2012 | access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref>