Vincent Canby wrote: "Not since "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." Upon its release, "Time" called it a "wan bit of whimsy ... makes no more sense than its synopsis, though Meg Ryan beguiles in three different roles." 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, saying "if you set aside the routine comic expectations its marketing encouraged, you may find yourself entranced by a movie that is utterly "sui generis"."