Even by its own flatly formulaic standards, there are very few crowd-pleasing moments to be found in "Joe Somebody," a wet blanket of an underdog comedy that's a big loser in the laughs department. Tim Allen, reuniting with "The Santa Clause" director John Pasquin, puts his amiable everyman into overdrive as a taken-for-granted average Joe who gets pushed around for the last time, but he's given little support by a doddering script and uncertain pacing. Given its family-friendly rating and the absence of similar fare in the holiday marketplace, the picture could still manage to make a bit of a name for itself at the boxoffice, but it's certainly no fat man in the red suit.

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