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Joe Somebody
Metascore
42 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 21
  3. Negative: 6 out of 21
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    70
    Joe Somebody sends audiences home happy but also with an awareness that happy endings have to be earned in real life as on the screen.
  2. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    A lot of this goes down surprisingly well, even if Panettiere, through no fault of her own, is saddled with phony precocious dialogue that makes her sound like an ancient sage.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    The cop-out is mitigated by Allen's ability to impart a comfortable, lived-in quality to his roles, this one included.
    All this critic's reviews
  4. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    63
    For all the story's bland familiarity, it has winning moments. Allen's no actor, but he projects a likeable personality.
  5. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Gareth Von Kallenbach
    60
    An entertaining diversion and if you want a light film to just sit back and relax to, then this might just be your movie.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    60
    Pretty formulaic stuff: bland self-empowerment tinged with warm fuzzies in all the right places. But what makes this "Somebody" something is Pasquin's deft touch and understanding with the material.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    60
    It's not great; it's also not idiotic.
  8. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Charles Savage
    50
    The best scenes in the movie belong to James Belushi.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Carla Meyer
    50
    An odd picture, a rumination on depression and self-discovery that's couched as an office comedy.
  10. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    50
    This is harmless fun for the holiday season, but Tim Allen doesn't give movie the punch it needs.
    All this critic's reviews
  11. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    50
    It turns out that Joe ends up liking the old Joe better too. Who just so happens to be the kind of average-Joe character that continues to make Allen such a tidy, non-Joe bundle.
  12. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    50
    It's routine, TV sitcom fodder, but the supporting cast is better than average.
  13. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Steve Simels
    40
    The picture is nearly stolen, however, by co-star Greg Germann (of TV's Ally McBeal) in the role of Joe's company's resident corporate weasel. Germann's squinty-eyed insincerity is truly a marvel to behold, and it's an astringent corrective to the film's rather too frequent feel-good passages.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    40
    Continually squanders its opportunities for hilarity.
  15. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    40
    It isn't until Joe starts getting confident and cocky that Allen starts to feel a little more natural in the role, and by then the movie's plot has all but evaporated into a series of wispy gags that barely register.
  16. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    It's a simple, wholesome parable, crashingly obvious, and we sit patiently while the characters and the screenplay slowly arrive at the inevitable conclusion. It needs to take some chances and surprise us.
  17. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Robert K. Elder
    38
    If "American Beauty" were a bland comedy, it would be Joe Somebody.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    38
    An unimaginative schoolyard-bully comedy.
    All this critic's reviews
  19. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    38
    The demands of formula eventually stifle anything that even looks like inspiration or honesty.
  20. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    30
    It all misses the mark emotionally, hindered by one-dimensional characters and telegraphed developments.
  21. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    20
    Wasn't worth Allen's time and isn't worth yours.
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