Joe's Apartment (1996)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

John Payson

Writers (WGA):

John Payson (short film)
John Payson (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 July 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Tagline:

Sex Bugs Rock 'n Roll.

Plot:

A nice guy has just moved to New York and discovers that he must share his run-down apartment with a couple thousand singing, dancing cockroaches.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | New York | Singing | Insect | Part Computer Animation

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Jerry O'Connell	...	Joe
Megan Ward	...	Lily Dougherty
Billy West	...	Ralph Roach (voice)
Reginald Hudlin	...	Rodney Roach (voice)
Jim Turner	...	Walter Shit / Voice of Cockroach
Sandra 'Pepa' Denton	...	Blank (as Sandra Denton)
Robert Vaughn	...	Senator Dougherty
Don Ho	...	Alberto Bianco
Jim Sterling	...	Jesus Bianco / Voice of Cockroach
Shiek Mahmud-Bey	...	Vladimir Bianco
David Huddleston	...	P.I. Smith
Frank Bello	...	Stick-Up Man #1
Lord Kayson	...	Stick-Up Man #2
Alejandro Molina	...	Stick-Up Man #3
Wayman Ezell	...	Apartment Broker #1

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude humor and a brief drug reference.

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34647) | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Denmark:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Geffen Pictures

Trivia:

The first ever feature film produced by MTV Networks.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the Bianco boys break into the apartment and approach Joe, one is talking, but no words are heard.

Quotes:

[Joe finds a man lying in a pool of blood]
Joe: Oh, my god! Mister, are you alright?
Walter Shit: Two days, seven hours, twenty-three minutes and four seconds. That's how long I've been lying here.
Joe: Are you O.K.?
Walter Shit: 'Course not! I'm an artist!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs First Blood (1982)

Soundtrack:

Discharge

I Like Dark Humor, But Cockroaches - Yeech!

As someone who usually appreciates the absurd and likes many "black comedies," I was a little disappointed in this one. I mean, showing cockroaches who talk and sing sounded hilarious, so I rented the VHS shortly after it came out, but didn't find the dark humor as good as I had hoped.

Somebody told me this film was really gross, but I didn't find that the case. It's not bad in that department. It just isn't as funny as you might hope. Also, let's be honest: how many people want to look at cockroaches for over an hour? How many want to see one for a minute? Not many. Cockroaches have to be one of the most disgusting creatures on earth. Yet having the guts to make a movie about them, and having them sing and dance, especially in a Busby Berkeley-type number, is pretty outrageous and deserves an "E for effort," as the saying used to go.

I think this would have been more tolerable, and funny, had it been a short film, something around 20-30 minutes. It might even have won awards for "Best Short." but the "joke" begins to wear thin after awhile.

Still, if you are looking for something TOTALLY different and you are hard to offend, look no further!