Joe Somebody (PG, 2001)

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 Daughter to Work Day," looks on. She sees his humiliation afterward -- he 's 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.

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.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: John Pasquin
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Julie Bowen, Tim Allen
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release: December 21, 2001
DVD release: August 20, 2002
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: language, thematic elements and some mild violence