Joe Somebody (PG)

Talented actors are wasted on bad script.

(Flash is loading. If this text does not disappear you need to install the latest flash version)

Common Sense rates it
2
Seen the movie? Review it
668.jpg
Movie details
  • Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
  • Directed By: John Pasquin
  • Cast: Tim Allen
  • Release Date: 12/21/2001
  • Genre: Comedy
  • MPAA Rating: PG
  • MPAA Explanation: very crude language and some violence

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that the movie has very strong language for a PG, including many words they would not want their children to use. Joe smokes a cigar as an emblem of machismo. Characters drink and there is a scene in a bar. The entire theme of fighting back is very poorly handled. And some kids will be upset by the neglect of Joe's child.

Families can talk about popularity and why so many people will do anything to attain it.

Message

Social Behavior:

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Macho drinking and cigar smoking.

Violence

Comic violence.

Sex

Strong for a PG, including gratutious shots of female characters in scanty underwear.

Language

Very strong language for a PG.

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

Joe (Tim Allen) is slapped in the face by a bully (Patrick Warburton) in an altercation at the parking lot at work while his daughter, who has come with him for "Take Your Daughters to Work Day," looks on. She sees his humiliation afterward -- he is so depressed that he sits at home in his bloody shirt for three days, until Meg (Julie Bowen), the office "wellness" coordinator, comes over and asks him what he wants. Joe decides to challenge the bully to a rematch. As soon as word gets out, he is suddenly Mr. Popularity around the office. So, all he has to do is spend three weeks taking fighting lessons from a former star of low-budget action movies, and he'll be all set.

Is it any good?

2

The message of JOE SOMEBODY is that being popular and being willing and able to beat someone up are what really matter. On the way to the final confrontation there is a lot of comic violence (including two below-the-belt injuries that are supposed to be funny). Despite his commitment to his daughter, Joe seems completely insensitive to the impact of his actions on her. And there is also something very icky about the way that Joe's ex-wife becomes attracted to him again when she sees how newly tough he is, so she puts on a sexy red teddy and tries to sneak into his house to get back together with him. To make it worse, it is their daughter who stops her, in a strange scene that makes it clear that any parenting in that relationship is going to the mother, not from the mother.

Attractive and talented performers are completely wasted in this movie. Despite a couple of nice moments between Meg and Joe, and the use of the truly magnificent Eva Cassidy song "Songbird," it is an almost unalloyed disappointment.

Parents and kids say

Be the first to post a review.

Log in or Register to post a review
Review It

All Things Naked Brothers Band

All Things Naked Brothers Band
What do your kids do online?
Surf
37%
Homework and research
20%
Download music
5%
Chat with friends
38%
65 votes