Joe Somebody
Joe Somebody is a 2001 American comedy film directed by John Pasquin, written by John Scott Shepherd, and starring Tim Allen as Joe Scheffer, a meek corporate video specialist who resolves to fight back after a bullying co-worker humiliates him in front of his daughter. It was produced by Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises and released wide by 20th Century Fox on December 21, 2001.1 • 2
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Wide release December 21, 2001, by 20th Century Fox; PG rating for language, thematic elements, and some mild violence2 |
| Director / writer | John Pasquin; screenplay by John Scott Shepherd1 |
| Lead cast | Tim Allen (Joe Scheffer), Julie Bowen (Meg Harper), Kelly Lynch (Callie Scheffer), Hayden Panettiere (Natalie Scheffer), Patrick Warburton (Mark McKinney), Jim Belushi (Chuck Scarett)3 |
| Budget | $38 million, financed by Fox, Regency, and Hannover Leasing2 • 4 |
| Box office | $22,770,864 domestic; $1,745,126 international; $24,515,990 worldwide, about 0.6 times the production budget2 |
| Critical reception | 21% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 84 reviews; critics consensus: "Amiable, but extremely lightweight and predictable"5 |
| Setting | STARKe Pharmaceuticals, a Minneapolis corporate campus6 • 7 |
Spoilers
Plot
Joe Scheffer is a divorced single father working in the audio/visual department of STARKe Pharmaceuticals in Minneapolis. He has been passed over for a long-promised promotion and still pines for his ex-wife Callie (Kelly Lynch). On Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, he confronts co-worker Mark McKinney (Patrick Warburton) over a parking space reserved for employees of ten years' service, though McKinney has only seven. McKinney hits him and knocks him down in front of Joe's daughter Natalie (Hayden Panettiere) and other coworkers.6 • 8
Crushed and depressed, Joe decides to get even and challenges McKinney to a rematch. He takes martial arts lessons from Chuck Scarett (Jim Belushi), a former B-movie action star turned instructor. As word of the coming fight spreads through the company, Joe becomes suddenly popular, receives a makeover, and climbs the corporate ladder, even winning the attention of the wellness coordinator Meg Harper (Julie Bowen). The story ends with Joe realizing he does not need revenge, or to become someone else, to earn his daughter's respect and win Meg's heart.9 • 5
Production
The Kopelson Entertainment executive Matthew Gross discovered Shepherd's screenplay and brought it to producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson, whose credits include Platoon (1986), The Fugitive (1993), and Se7en (1995). Shepherd, who had worked in advertising as a video and film producer, drew the story from his experience of the people who work anonymously in corporate America.10
The film was financed for $38 million by Fox, Regency, and Hannover Leasing, which drew on the German tax shelter fund market for the studio.4 A 2002 report in the Los Angeles Times stated that Shepherd's initial screenplay had been a dark, edgy comedy, but once Tim Allen signed on and the studio marketed the picture as a family film for the holidays, Shepherd was removed from the project and its darker humor was stripped from the script. He did not disguise his feelings about the finished product, telling the newspaper, "God, do I hate that movie!"11
Jim Carrey was offered the lead role before Tim Allen but turned it down to make The Majestic (2001) instead.8 Joe Somebody was Allen's third film directed by Pasquin, after The Santa Clause (1994) and Jungle 2 Jungle (1997); the two had also worked together on the television series Home Improvement.12 During the martial arts scenes, Allen's arms became painfully bruised halfway through filming, so he wore pads on his arms, visible on screen from the middle of the film onward.8
Release and box office
The film opened on December 21, 2001, in a crowded holiday frame against The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, How High, and The Majestic, with Ali and Kate & Leopold opening on the 25th.4 Its opening weekend gross was $3,553,725 in 2,506 theaters, ranking tenth for the weekend; its best weekend was the second, at $5,076,742, and it ran an average of 4.3 weeks per theater before finishing at $22,770,864 domestically and $24,515,990 worldwide.2 Domestic receipts accounted for 92.9 percent of the total.2
Reception
Critical response was largely negative. The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer stood at 21 percent from 84 reviews, with 18 fresh and 66 rotten, and the site's critics consensus called the film "Amiable, but extremely lightweight and predictable."5 Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film two stars and wrote that it "plays like an after-school special, with grownups cast in the kids' roles," a "simple, wholesome parable" that arrives at an inevitable conclusion without taking chances.12 The A.V. Club's review found Tim Allen ill-suited to the timid lead, noting that the qualities that worked in Galaxy Quest worked against him here.13 The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter was more favorable, calling it an "amusing workplace comedy" and singling out Julie Bowen, Kelly Lynch, and Greg Germann for praise.7
Hayden Panettiere received a 2002 Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film, Leading Young Actress.14
Versions and home media
Sources disagree on the running time: the AFI Catalog lists 105 minutes,1 while The Numbers and several streaming listings give 98 minutes.2 • 15 The film was released on DVD on August 20, 2002,16 and on video on January 14, 2003, by 20th Century Studios.2 It is available digitally to rent from about $3.99 or buy from about $12.99 on platforms including Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango at Home, and it streams on Amazon Prime Video in the United States.15
References
- Joe Somebody (2001), AFI Catalog
- Joe Somebody (2001), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers
- Joe Somebody (2001), Full cast & crew, IMDb
- Joe Somebody, Bomb Report
- Joe Somebody, Rotten Tomatoes
- Joe Somebody, Apple TV
- Stephen Hunter, "'Joe Somebody': Big Man on Corporate Campus," The Washington Post, December 20, 2001
- Joe Somebody (2001) on Netflix, NetflixMovies.com
- Joe Somebody (2001), Plot, IMDb
- Joe Somebody: Production Notes, Cinema.com
- "Dumbed Down by Committee," Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2002
- Roger Ebert, "Joe Somebody," Chicago Sun-Times, December 21, 2001
- Keith Phipps, "Joe Somebody," The A.V. Club, December 21, 2001
- Joe Somebody, TV Guide
- Joe Somebody streaming, JustWatch
- Joe Somebody, Where to Watch, Moviefone
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2000 to 2002 › Comedies of 2001
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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