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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • 3 Deleted scenes
  • Theatrical trailer
Joe Somebody (Rental)
20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 98 mins . PG-13 . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Normally I loathe Tim Allen films with a passion second only to anything from the Chevy Chase collection. I still don’t know how a comedian can remain so highly regarded in cinema for repeating almost the exact same jokes that he previously used a thousand times over in his Home Improvement television series. However, I decided to give the tool man one last chance, hoping that Joe Somebody wouldn’t disappoint like nine out of ten of his previous films did… do I really need to remind you all of For Richer or Poorer??? Eeeeeew!

Joe Somebody follows a terribly simple plot which really could have gone a little further. Joe (Tim Allen) is a big-time nobody as the ‘AV guy’ in a dodgy pharmaceuticals company that he’s worked at for over ten years. Nobody likes him, nobody even knows him, and he goes about his daily work with little glee or dignity. This is until one day when he gets punched-out, or bitch-slapped actually, in the staff car park in front of his very impressionable daughter (who actually couldn’t care less about it). After hitting the booze and the bleach, Joe realises its time for change, and after a bit of coaching by Meg Harper (Julie Bowen) he decides it's time to buff up and have his revenge.

This shift in attitude results in big changes for Joe’s lifestyle. Everybody in the office now knows him, and the entire staffing body wants to see him have his revenge on the guy who king-hit him in the car park. The popularity of being a somebody goes to his head, and although he remains about as modest and humble as any American really can be, he starts to forget about the people who loved him for who he really is – a loser. Apparently there’s a moral in this story for the kids, but it sort of slipped my attention. To compensate for this, though, there is actually a steady stream of reasonably funny jokes that don’t involve Tim Allen smacking his head into a door and screaming “arrrghh!”, although there is still plenty of that as well. Overall its actually quite an enjoyable movie, even if its not side-splittingly funny.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

This is quite a reasonable transfer. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the film is also widescreen enhanced and has only a few quibbles for me to complain about. The colours are well rendered, shadow detail is fine and the clarity is quite sharp (although far from razor sharp).

The grain levels become a little too high at times, but never really intrude. Aliasing pops up on a few occasions, film artefacts are minimal, and there are no major compression faults. Overall the disc gives the impression it's been squeezed onto a single layer with quite a bit of pushing. Although the transfer is quite good I’d be expecting the retail release to look a lot better.

Joe Somebody is somewhat of a comedy, and a comedy that relies entirely on funny lines and witty dialogue, so don’t be expecting the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack to be pumping out any amazing sounds. The subwoofer rarely gets a chance to do its thing, while the surrounds play occasionally but are never really required to enhance the movie. More importantly though, the dialogue is always clear and the audio track is pretty much fault-free. There's nothing to complain about here – its not the best soundtrack for a film like this, but it does the job without starting any fights.

Would you believe this, we actually have extras on a rental only disc?! OK, maybe I shouldn’t get carried away as we only have an extra, as in singular. Joe Somebody provides us with three deleted scenes from the movie, nothing really spectacular, in fact they are actually more like extended scenes rather than deleted ones, so we’re not really getting anything new here. Oh well, it's an extra on a rental only disc all the same, that’s got to count for something. We also get some theatrical trailers that load as soon as the disc is inserted, but I’m still not sure if they count as an extra or an annoyance.

Overall Joe Somebody is a surprisingly enjoyable film. It doesn’t try to do anything new, but it does get a few funny jokes out in the process. Jim Belushi is well worth looking out for, he’s slipped out of the Hollywood eye in recent years but it looks like he’s back now, and noticeably more sober than he has been for over a decade. It might not be the greatest film to add to your collection, but Joe Somebody will make for a fun rental viewing.


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  •   And I quote...
    "It might not be the greatest film to add to your collection, but Joe Somebody will make for a fun rental viewing."
    - Nathan Clark
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-636
    • TV:
          LG 80cm
    • Speakers:
          Pioneer
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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