As Joe Scheffer learns in the family comedy Joe Somebody, bullies aren't confined to the schoolyard.
Joe (Tim Allen) is a bit like the invisible man.
Though he is capable and creative, Joe has never had a promotion. If people at his office think about Joe at all it's to conclude he's bland and therefore unsuited for management.
Joe's marriage to Callie (Kelly Lynch) disintegrated because she felt he was too dull and boring.
Callie has so little regard for Joe she allows her new boyfriend Rick (Ken Marino) to kiss her in front of Joe.
The only two people who see Joe's potential and believe in him are his 12-year-old daughter Natalie (Hayden Panettiere) and Meg Harper (Julie Bowen), the company's personnel director. On the company's annual bring-your-child-to-work day, Joe is eager to introduce his two favourite girls to each other. It's a fateful day because Joe is humiliated in the parking lot by Mark McKinney (Patrick Warburton), the company bully.
Joe is devastated.
First he tries to hide his depression in a drunken stupor, but then he turns to Chuck Scarett (Jim Belushi), a former action film star to teach him self defence. The moment Joe announces he is taking on McKinney, his whole world changes.
People who never looked at him before are now inviting him to play squash and join them for karaoke nights. Joe is suddenly the man to know and be seen with.
Allen's forte is physical comedy, so the scenes that work best are those that require a degree of slapstick, in particular his training scenes with Belushi.
It's genuinely funny watching Joe take the physical abuse of his karate classes.
Warburton makes a convincing bully and Bowen is careful to give Meg strength and direction. Bowen's Meg is not just a possible love interest, she's an important instrument in Joe's transformation from wimp to winner.
Equally strong and insightful is Panettiere, who seems more Joe's equal than his daughter. She knows stooping to the bully's level is not the way for her father to repair his injured manhood.
Joe Somebody is a family film that goes for the laughs but not at the expense of demonstrating some important life lessons. For that reason, Joe Somebody has something for everybody.
(This film is rated PG)
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