Joe Somebody

Joe Scheffer is a video specialist at a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company who has spent years being overlooked, both at work and by his ex-wife Callie. After a workplace bully named Mark McKinney humiliates him in front of his daughter Natalie, Joe decides to change his life rather than accept the situation. He trains in martial arts under Chuck Scarett, a former B-movie action star, and adopts a new look, with results that extend well beyond the rematch he was preparing for.

Joe Somebody was released in December 2001. John Pasquin directed it, his third feature after The Santa Clause and Jungle 2 Jungle, and John Scott Shepherd wrote the screenplay. Tim Allen stars as Joe, with Julie Bowen, Kelly Lynch, Greg Germann, Hayden Panettiere and Patrick Warburton in supporting roles. The film cost about 38 million dollars to make and took in roughly 25 million worldwide, a return below its production budget.

Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds 5.6 from around 12,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.7 from some 228 votes. A critics' rating of 4.5 from 84 reviews places the professional assessment only slightly below the audience scores.