Joe Somebody

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Joe Somebody ★ 2001 (PG)

By-the-numbers dud feels like an after-school special with ten times the budget and half the brains or heart. Tim Allen again plays the allegedly likable Average Joe, only this time, his name is actually Joe. Trouble is, he doesn't look nerdy or ineffectual, even if he's wearing glasses and getting beat up in the parking lot. After Joe's daughter (Panettiere) witnesses his turn as punching bag for the office bully (Warburton), he slides into a depression. But after a visit from sure-to-be romantic interest Meg (Bowen), Joe decides he wants a rematch. He enlists the help of a faded martial arts guru (Belushi) and becomes popular, but his daughter and love interest like the old Joe better. Tries to have a moral message about rejecting violence while also giving a good dose of it. Joe's precocious, sage-like daughter makes the Olsen twins pleasant by comparison. 97m/C VHS, DVD . US Tim Allen, Julie Bowen, Hayden Panettiere, Kelly Lynch, James Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Greg Germann, Robert Joy, Ken Marino; D: John Pasquin; W: John Scott Shepherd; C: Daryn Okada; M: George S. Clinton.