Reel Critics

Ruhland, Simonis

“Joe Somebody” wasn’t the first-choice for any of us, but instead, one

we could agree on, a compromise. Not expecting much, we were delightedly

surprised.

John Pasquin directs Tim Allen who stars as Joe in a feel-good, funny,

family movie. Joe Scheffer isn’t just Joe Somebody, he is Joe Everyman.

He has reached a midlife crisis where he assesses his life and finds

himself lacking. He tells his daughter that when he was young, he wanted

to be a writer, but that now his greatest fear is disappearing.

His wife has left him for an actor and he has been passed over for a

promotion at work.

Joe retreats to his home depressed. The company wellness coordinator,

Meg Harper (Julie Bowen) is sent to bring him back to work, and is the

first to ask Joe in a very long time, “What do you want?” Joe’s quick and

easy answer to that question, is that he wants to again fight Mark,

Patrick Warburton, to regain his self-respect. He also discovers the

answer to his question “What do you want?” is very different and much

more satisfying than he first thought.

There are some very funny moments in this movie and there is a

satisfying ending.

* SEAN RUHLAND, 12, is a seventh-grader at Marine View Middle School,

DEREK RUHLAND, 14, is a freshman at Huntington Beach High School, and

TERI SIMONIS, 41, is an office assistant for the city of Huntington

Beach.