- When Joe is beat up by a co-worker in front of his daughter on "Bring Your Child To Work Day", he decides to fight back.
- Humiliated before the eyes of his young daughter at the company's parking lot, timid single father Joe painfully realises that he is no match for his co-worker and office bully Mark. However, as bruised Joe rapidly sinks into depression, much to everyone's surprise, he decides to get even. Now, it's up to former B-movie star and martial arts instructor Chuck to help Joe get in shape and, perhaps, save what's left of his crushed male ego. Before long, the rumours of a rematch start spreading like wildfire, and suddenly, a new Mr Popularity emerges. But is Joe up to the task? Above all, will his colleagues root for the underdog?—Nick Riganas
- When underappreciated video specialist Joe Scheffer is brutally humiliated by the office bully Mark McKinney in front of his daughter, Joe begins a quest for personal redemption. He proceeds by enduring a personal make-over and takes martial arts lessons from a B-action star. As news spreads of his rematch with Mark, Joe suddenly finds himself the center of attention, ascending the corporate ladder and growing in popularity. He's determined to show everyone in his life that he is not a nobody, but a force to be reckoned with.—Anna <dimenxia@yahoo.com>
- On 'take your daughter to work' day, Joe Scheffer gets into an argument in the Car Park with the work bully, Mark McKinny. Mark hits Joe and embarrasses him in front of his Daughter and workmates. After falling into depression, unable to face his daughter, Joe figures that if he challenge and beat Mark McKinny in a fight, his dignity will be regained. From the day of the challenge to the day of the fight, Joe becomes very popular and learns various lessons that life can throw at him, which includes falling in love after his divorce. Being taught by a local Karate Sensai, and having the backing of the local community, Joe prepares for the fight in an attempt to go from zero to hero.—Mekaeal Chaudary (Mekaeal_12345@hotmail.com)
- Joe Scheffer (Tim Allen) has been made to feel like a nobody for most of his life. His ex-wife divorced him, he's not getting the promotions or the props he should be getting at work as a talented audio/visual specialist and he's usually unnoticed by pretty much everyone from work. Lucky for him, his daughter Natalie (Hayden Panettiere) thinks the world of her dad and supports him no matter what. On "take your daughter to work" day, Joe takes Natalie to his workplace. In the car, Joe talks to his daughter about the importance of following her dreams, that she is a talented writer and should keep exploring that. However the argument falls on deaf ears considering Joe was also a talented writer and he didn't follow his dream. As he pulls into a good parking spot, he gets cut by a SUV aggressively driven by his co-worker Mark McKinney (Patrick Warburton). The parking spot being reserved for employees that have at least 10 years of tenure in the company, Joe decides to confront McKinney about his right to claim that parking space, as McKinney has only been working for the company for 7 years. McKinney dismisses Joe's point entirely but when Joe refuses to let it go, he threatens Joe and assaults him in front of his young daughter and other co-workers. Following the incident, Joe falls into a state of self-pity and depression. He refuses to go to work, refuses to see his daughter out of shame and drinks a lot.
Meanwhile, Executive Wellness Coordinator at STARKe Pharmaceuticals, Joe's employer, Jeremy (Greg Germann), seeing a potential corporate backlash and lawsuit against the company, convinces his colleague, with whom he is infatuated with, Meg Harper (Julie Bowen) to take the case seriously and do everything in her power to bring Joe back to work. Meg visits Joe and tries to convince him to get back to work but he's not listening. Out of frustration she accidentally yells at him "What do you want?" which literally provokes a panic attack in Joe. Once the panic subsides, Joe is suddenly stirred to action by this question, and decides he wants a rematch to reclaim his dignity and self-respect, which he feels McKinney took from him.
Joe drives to McKinney's house to officially challenge him to a fight on McKinney's first day back after his five weeks suspension. The rumors of the upcoming fight starts spreading within the company and Joe begins to find himself becoming more and more popular around the office for his bravery. Both Meg and Natalie, however, do not feel fighting McKinney will solve anything, and both attempt to tell Joe as such, to no avail. Joe seeks out the aid of an ex B-movie star turned martial arts instructor named Chuck Scarett (Jim Belushi) to teach him how to defend himself. Chuck is very cold and unsympathetic to Joe's situation but agrees to train him anyway. As the days go by and Joe gets better, Chuck actually warms up to him and the two become friends.
Things seem to finally be going right for Joe as he has finally been given the promotion he had been hoping for, people around the office treat him like the local hero, and he's being invited to social events by co-workers, including a televised basketball game where he gets to meet Governor Jessie "the body" Ventura. Joe even finds the courage to invite Meg on a date, even if he realizes during the date that he's not quite ready for romance yet. His divorce has left scars that are still hurting too much. Joe still appreciates Meg a lot and is so happy to show her all the new props in his life from his recent promotion and popularity.
However, Meg soon realizes Jeremy gave Joe a non-existing position at the office only to prevent him from suing the company, and intends to take it away from him down the line when he can no longer threaten the company. She suddenly realizes how much she has succeeded at life but failed herself. She wanted to be a guidance counselor but gave up on it when her corporate career took off. She tries to explain it to Joe who misses the point entirely. Joe offers to help Meg with her problems because she did the same for him. Meg counters that she feels she didn't help him at all actually.
Joe's martial arts training keeps getting better and better as does Joe's confidence. Even his ex-wife Callie (Kelly Lynch) takes notice of the changes her ex-husband is going through. When her current boyfriend decides to leave her, afraid to be alone, Callie forms a plan to seduce Joe but is stopped by Natalie who saw it coming and talks her mother out of it.
Joe visits Meg's office one morning but is surprised to hear she has quit the company. Jeremy lies that she suffered a mental breakdown and the two of them had been having an affair. Joe meets with Meg at her place to thank her for all she's done for him and wants to know why she resigned. He also wants to know about the presumed affair with Jeremy. Meg explains she got herself back on her original dream by taking a job as an assistant guidance counselor. She also denies the affair the mental breakdown to Joe's relief. Meg then again tries to persuade Joe not to fight McKinney. Joe leaves explaining he just can't drop the fight. He has to go through with it or nothing's changed and he's still a scared nobody.
On that day, Joe also has his final training session with Chuck. Joe asks him why he is not making action movies anymore. Chuck explains that he allowed success to go to his head and became a jerk to everyone. And then one day, the people who were lining up to kiss his ass simply turned on him and lined up to kiss someone else's ass and he became yesterday news. He then explains that the most important people in your life are those that stays with you whether you are somebody or not. When Joe asks if he has people like that in his life, Chuck says no.
The day of the fight, Joe makes it all the way to the school where the brawl is to take place. As he stands in front of McKinney however, he finally realizes that just showing up for the fight is enough and he doesn't need to actually go through with it. He's already proven his point and won his own internal fight. He also realizes his co-workers don't really care about him like his daughter or Meg would and are only there to see someone get beat up. He realizes it would be immature to fight, and not worth the price he would have to pay. When Joe tells McKinney and his other co-workers that the fight is off, McKinney is actually relieved and offers him a genuine apology, which Joe accepts. Jeremy, however, refuses this outcome and challenges Joe to a fight which Joe ends in a second with one shot thrown in self-defense. Joe then goes and makes up with Meg, revealing he did not fight and he finally understood what she was trying to tell him all along. He then reveals he is healed and feels ready to date again now and the two kiss.
The movie ends with Joe and Meg now a couple, attending a play written by Natalie that turns out to be a success.
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