Underplayed Gems

Joe's Apartment (1996)

Joe's Apartment poster
Directed by
John Payson
Genre
fantasy film, comedy film, musical film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 18m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
5.8 of 10 from 382 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A man named Joe moves into a rundown New York apartment and discovers it is overrun by talking, singing cockroaches. The roaches help him navigate city life and win the heart of a woman.

quirkywhimsicalcomedicmusicalsillycheerfuloffbeat

What happens

Joe's Apartment is a 1996 American musical black comedy film written and directed by John Payson (in his feature directorial debut), based on his 1992 short film of the same name, and starring Jerry O'Connell and Megan Ward. The main focus of the story is the fact that, unbeknownst to many humans, cockroaches can talk, but prefer not to, as humans "smush first and ask questions later". They also sing and even have their own public-access television cable TV channel. Actors providing the roaches' voices included Billy West (in his feature film debut), Jim Turner, Rick Aviles (in his final film role), Tim Blake Nelson, BD Wong, and Dave Chappelle. Joe's Apartment was the first MTV Films production and the first film Blue Sky Studios was involved in. It is also the only MTV Films production made without the involvement of Paramount Pictures. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 26, 1996 and received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, merely grossing over $4 million against a budget of $13 million. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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