Joe Somebody

( 2 )

Overview

Following their television series Home Improvement and the features The Santa Clause 1994 and Jungle 2 Jungle 1997, the actor/director team of Tim Allen and John Pasquin collaborate once again on this high-concept comedy. Allen stars as Joe Scheffer, a nice guy video specialist for a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company who's plodding through both his thankless job and an unhappy divorce from his ex-wife Callie Kelly Lynch. When Joe brings his daughter Natalie Hayden Panettiere to the office with him on Take Our ...
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Overview

Following their television series Home Improvement and the features The Santa Clause 1994 and Jungle 2 Jungle 1997, the actor/director team of Tim Allen and John Pasquin collaborate once again on this high-concept comedy. Allen stars as Joe Scheffer, a nice guy video specialist for a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company who's plodding through both his thankless job and an unhappy divorce from his ex-wife Callie Kelly Lynch. When Joe brings his daughter Natalie Hayden Panettiere to the office with him on Take Our Kids to Work Day, he's humiliated in a spat with company bully Mark McKinney Patrick Warburton over a parking space. It's the last straw for the mild-mannered Joe, who challenges McKinney to a rematch, hires a has-been action movie star Jim Belushi to instruct him in martial arts, and pays a stylist to make over his wardrobe and hair. As Joe's image improves and the big day approaches, he finds his new self-respecting stance has positive effects in both the workplace, as he lands a long-overdue promotion, and in his romantic life, as both Callie and a cute "wellness coordinator" Julie Bowen start warming up to him. The levelheaded Natalie, however, seems to prefer the previously non-confrontational dad she already loved. Joe Somebody 2001 is the feature debut of screenwriter John Scott Shepherd, who actually worked as a corporate filmmaker in Minneapolis.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide
The biggest problem with Joe Somebody is its miniscule supply of Joe Nobody. After a perfunctory 10 minutes of Tim Allen acting wimpy and vanilla, then getting smacked around by Patrick Warburton, he undergoes an instant makeover, suddenly on the fast track and beloved by everyone who used to ignore him. Joe Somebody quickly loses focus on Joe's training to fight an overgrown bully, and becomes just another Hollywood cautionary tale about getting too popular too fast, thereby shunning your identity. It would have been a lot more effective, though still implausible, as an adult version of Three O'Clock High, where the fight looms ominously, and the character's energies are spent on preparations that allow him to gradually gain confidence. Instead, Warburton's character goes missing for huge stretches of time, leaving him a fuzzy antagonist and wasting his screen presence. The focus becomes Joe's steady rise among his peers, which is predicated on the idea that he wants to get into a schoolyard brawl. (Included here is the de rigeur yuppie squash game, which has no purpose other than as a platform for winces and groin shots). Then there's the love story with a co-worker (Julie Bowen), which gets stalled by the fact that Joe is still hung up on his awful ex-wife (Kelly Lynch). Lost in all this is an early appearance by future Heroes star Hayden Panettiere, whose character warranted more screen time, and adding to the squareness quotient is a score by George S. Clinton (not the funk singer) that sounds straight out of the 1980s. But even had Joe Somebody been structured as a slow build toward redemption, that would still leave it no better than Jungle 2 Jungle, For Richer or Poorer, or any number of Allen vehicles as unmemorable as this film's titular schlub.
Los Angeles Times
Joe Somebody sends audiences home happy but also with an awareness that happy endings have to be earned in real life as on the screen.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 8/20/2002
  • UPC: 024543042327
  • Original Release: 2001

    • Rating:

  • Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Tim Allen Joe Scheffer
Julie Bowen Meg Harper
Kelly Lynch Callie Scheffer
Hayden Panettiere Natalie Scheffer
Jim Belushi Chuck Scarett
Greg Germann Jeremy
Robert Joy Pat Chilcutt
Patrick Warburton Mark McKinney
Technical Credits
John Pasquin Director
Ken Atchity Producer
George S. Clinton Score Composer
Jackson de Govia Production Designer
Lou Eyrich Costumes/Costume Designer
David Finfer Editor
Risa Bramon Garcia Casting
Matthew Gross Producer
Michael Haley Asst. Director
Kimberly Brent Jordan Associate Producer
Arnold Kopelson Producer
Anne Kopelson Producer
Arnon Milchan Executive Producer
Kathy O'Rear Costumes/Costume Designer
Daryn Okada Cinematographer
Brian Reilly Producer
Scott Ritenour Art Director
John Scott Shepherd Screenwriter
Mark Weingarten Sound/Sound Designer
William W. Wilson III Executive Producer
Chi-li Wong Executive Producer
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 2 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

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3 Star

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2 Star

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1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    I like it

    Excellent movie done by Tim Allen.Really funny and tear jerking.Anybody who likes Tim Allen, should see it.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    There's a Joe Somebody in Everybody

    This film was a surprisingly entertaining movie. It takes a basic plot and lets human nature validify the story.Sure,it can get exagerrated at times, but hey, on a Sat. or Sun., with nothing else to do. Joe Somebody makes for an interesting way to kill time. The actors never overplay their charactors and allow the viewer to find humor in the truth. There's not many twists and ''booming'' songs that try to deflect from the simple plot of a man trying to redeem his pride.In this case...simpler made better.To put it in lamens terms....it's a feel good movie.You should check it out..you might find more in common with Joe than you think.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews