It's possible America needs a movie like Joe Somebody at year's end, if only for those in the audience terrified of English accents and trailers that promise, 'From the Academy Award-winning director of...'
Joe Somebody (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:83
Fresh:16
Rotten:67
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: Amiable, but extremely lightweight and predictable.
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Tim Allen reteams with director John Pasquin (THE SANTA CLAUSE) in JOE SOMEBODY. Allen stars as Joe Scheffer, a mild-mannered man who makes promotional videos for a Minneapolis pharmaceutical... Tim Allen reteams with director John Pasquin (THE SANTA CLAUSE) in JOE SOMEBODY. Allen stars as Joe Scheffer, a mild-mannered man who makes promotional videos for a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company. Joe is divorced and quietly unhappy until the office bully, Mark McKinney (Patrick Warburton), punches him out in the company parking lot, in front of Joe's precocious young daughter (Hayden Panettiere of REMEMBER THE TITANS). The humiliated Joe sinks into such a deep depression that not even the flirtations of the company's pretty "wellness coordinator" (Julie Bowen) can rouse him. Joe decides that he has to restore his pride by challenging McKinney to a fight, and suddenly finds himself the most popular man in the office. Joe even hires a washed-up action movie star (Jim Belushi in a hilariously grizzled performance) to teach him martial arts. He soon finds that he has to weigh the allure of his newfound popularity against the love and respect of those who liked him the way he was. Screenwriter John Scott Shepherd does a good job of balancing slapstick comedy with touching family drama. Allen shows surprising range, giving a strong and sympathetic performance as an emotionally complex and dynamic character. [More]
Starring: Tim Allen, Julie Bowen, Jim Belushi, Kelly Lynch
Starring: Tim Allen, Julie Bowen, Jim Belushi, Kelly Lynch, Hayden Panettiere, Greg Germann, Patrick Warburton
Director: John Pasquin
Director: John Pasquin
Screenwriter: John Scott Shepherd
Producer: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson, Matthew Gross, Ken Atchity, Brian Reilly
Composer: George S. Clinton
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Joe Somebody
It's like the perennial Christmas fruitcake -- nobody's first choice for a dessert, but a ritual we all observe now and again.
Innocuous and instantly forgettable...for the most part the material is flat, and it's flatly played.
Extremely light, but pleasant. Rarely a big laugh, but a friendly supply of chuckles
How can screenwriter John Scott Shepherd look at himself in the mirror after turning out such uninspired, immature, mechanical, cliche-driven, insultingly predictable drivel?
It's an enjoyable romp that avoids the ridiculous for the surprisingly understated.
A pretty generic Disney-esque comedy featuring the "safe" comedy of Tim Allen.
A wet blanket of an underdog comedy that's a big loser in the laughs department.
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