Joe's Apartment (1996) User Reviews

laugh your head of

[hemmelmol · 7/10 · 12 September 2004]

What's wrong with you, people??? Why has this movie such a low rating???

I loved those bugs everywhere. The special effects are OK. The story itself is a bit naive, but, hé, it's a fairy-tale!

Everyone who likes Who frames Roger Rabbit, Ant Z, Thumbelina by Don Bluth (OK, bad example) or over-the-top-sentimental-romance like What Dreams May Come must like Joe's Apartment.

What do we have here? 1: a lonely country-boy in New York; 2: two ugly and dumb bad guys; 3: a sweet girl as love interest; and 4: thousands of bugs who are supposed to be loathsome, but soon turn out to be adorable. The first three items you have seen all before. But the fourth! You've never seen something like this, and you will never forget you saw it.

Disgusting, outrageous, I loved nearly every minute of it

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 15 April 2001]

Just remember, this is a critic who holds some of the most vile films ever (vile in a good way) in my list of best comedies ever (Dumb and Dumber, UHF, South Park), so it is not surprising that I found this movie enjoyable and funny. The movie stars Jerry O'Connell as a loser type who finds an apartment in NY's east side for 50 or 60 bucks, but then he also finds it is infested with more cockroaches than the DMV has idiots. I'm sure there will be some watching the movie who might think, this might be a good time to become bulemic, and for those people I don't reccomend the movie for the hurl factor. But for those who can take the chum of roaches on a face, in breasts, in toilets singing songs (I love the funky towel song), this movie is for you. By the way, this is the first MTV movie, so it shows that at first MTV might've had a good streak. Looks like execs can't take urinal cake jokes though. A

Roach memories

[Mike-DD · 6/10 · 25 August 2000]

I enjoyed this movie despite one thing - I had an irrational phobia of roaches since I was young, and only got over it a few years ago just before this movie came out. Just as well - I might never watched it otherwise. To see the roaches up close and performing song and dance made me a little nauseous at first as it brought back memories of those times when I got too close to a real roach, but after a while, you sort of forget that they are dirty and disgusting pests and actually start enjoying and anticipating their next comic routine. For me, the stars of the show are the roaches, in fact, I can't even remember who acted in it after a while.

Joe's apartment full of laughs

[annie1962 · 22 August 2007]

I wonder why it got criticized because to me the worth of a movie is how you react to it.

I first saw it on video in 1996 and I can tell you that we had to watch the intro three times because we were laughing so damn hard.

Even the 'mother' of the house was constantly telling us to shooooshhhh because we laughed so loud.

Never has a movie had me laughing so loud.

Now 11 yrs later, my 5 yr and 6 yr old boys watch it and get a huge laugh out of it. They love to see the roaches singing and dancing..

So if anyone cans it, they can go to buggery because we all get a lot of laughs and entertainment out of it.

I Like Dark Humor, But Cockroaches - Yeech!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 13 December 2007]

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!

Funny little singing critters

[lib-4 · 6/10 · 24 October 2000]

Decided to pick a film I'd never heard of- this turned out to be very funny especially the songs of the cockroaches. Connolly plays a down on his luck character well and the scene at the 911 operations is hilarious-- even my son was laughing along with me. Whoever designed the set deserves credit for their creativity.. a funny film that deserved more credit than it got.

Redefining bad

[Pigbelly · 1/10 · 30 July 2006]

This movie tries very hard to be strange and "zany" (the word used by boring people to describe mundane, outmoded comedy that they have just been introduced to but the rest of the world has become jaded to many years previously). This is an old, crusty splatter of teenage, cartoon ejaculation dried and forgotten on a dirty bed sheet badly in need of a washing. In other words... who cares? Not me. If you care about this film, I suggest you beat yourself in the head with your "Saved by the Bell" VHS collection until puberty sets in. Endless annoying Chipmunk songs sung by a chorus of poorly made cockroach puppets doing idiotic choreography is not entertainment. In fact, it's not even "Meet the Feebles" which is a masterpiece of cinema in comparison. This movie tries SO hard to be weird that it's painful. Oh, the pain. MY EYES!

Surprisingly cute, simple comedy about my least favorite bug

[ferryboy · 7/10 · 24 December 2008]

I absolutely detest roaches. Effing can't stand them, which is why the movie is a success. Making what I think to be one of the most disgusting creatures on Earth to be endearing, lovable characters was a huge stretch, but it was the most successful aspect of the movie.

The story is simple, and oftentimes can be dull, but the occasional insect song and dance routine, along with several apartment-sized battles between roach and human that stay consistently silly, it's easy to look past the tired love story.

A wholly original, fun movie, anyone willing to let loose and laugh at some three stooges- esquire comedy will most likely enjoy the slapstick and excrement-related humor.

Chances are that you can buy this movie for less than five dollars on DVD at this point, so if you happen to pass it, pick it up. What do you have to lose?

Well, if singing cockroaches and an endless stream of toilet humor is your thing, you might enjoy the film...

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 1/10 · 3 June 2005]

... of course, that might also mean you need extensive therapy. At least if you're over the age of seven. This film is an odd one. It's about a guy who moves into an apartment dominated by thousands upon thousands of cockroaches. I checked the director's entire filmography, and it seems like everything he does involves cockroaches... no, revolves around them. I'm guessing he's either fascinated by them or infatuated with them. I'm not sure which I find more disturbing. I wager he's got some counseling in his future... or maybe he's just a very large child, passing for an adult. That is the only group of people this... 'film' could possibly appeal to. The plot is stupid and completely predictable, not to mention formulaic in every sense of the word. Absolutely no originality whatsoever. The pacing is surprisingly poor, for such a short film. The acting is sub-par. The writing is horrid. The songs sung by the cockroaches... don't get me started. The rest of the soundtrack just seems out of place. I know this was produced by MTV, but even for them, this is a new low. But apart from every negative I've written in this review, I must admit that I followed this film from the very beginning pretty much to the very end... something I rarely do anymore, except for when I'm at the cinema. Despite how much I hated it, I never took my eyes off it. Of course, this was probably just because this was aired during a violent lightning storm, and I was afraid if I turned on my computer before it was over, it might attract a bolt of lightning. Of course, if you need to believe otherwise... then go right ahead. I recommend this to children and people who enjoy childish humor. To give a quick example of said "humor"; one scene has the main character running around town, collecting feces from various animals. Yes, seriously. The film is incredibly poorly done, and very amateurish in just about every aspect, but I suppose the kids won't mind. Personally, I'd choose a cartoon over this any day... but different strokes for different blokes. 1/10

jerry the slob and the roaches

[knifeintheeye · 7/10 · 17 April 2005]

Jerry O'Connell plays a small town guy who moves to the big city. The premise of a thousand other movies. What sets this movie apart from other like movies is he moves into a dead womans apartment inhabited by roaches. Roachs that talk. Roachs that talk English. Roachs that talk English and sing and dance. It all came together in this little movie from MTV. Far from a classic, but it's always fun to watch the roaches do their thing. The songs, although not catchy, make you sit up and watch. Jerry plays a slob to the nth degree (and looks like he never washes his face) who must make it in New York on his own. He goes through several jobs ranging from a drummer in a rock band to a urinal puck replacer ( glad that's not my occupation!). Billy West, voice actor from Futurama, plays one of the roaches quite well. Billy was born to play a roach apparently. Nobody will ever confuse this movie with an all time great, but it is a fun little movie that never takes itself seriously.

TERRIBLE FILM

[jholcombe · 2/10 · 8 August 2000]

Quite possibly one of the most stupid, sickening, and boring movies ever made. This movie was far from being funny. I would seriously wonder about the people that laughed the whole time, or put this film on their top ten list. If you are in the mood to watch something that will really make you feel like your night has been completely wasted, rent Joe's Apartment.

Totally off the wall creative genius

[osgrath · 9/10 · 15 August 2002]

I had never heard of this movie before my 16 year-old son rented the video. It is hilarious. Think of "Babe" as produced by the Marx Brothers, using singing cockroaches instead of mice . Evidently the critics didn't like it much, and I can see how they might not see it as high art, but as entertainment and an enjoyable time in fantasy land, it right up there with the best of them, in my opinion.

How can you not like a movie with singing cockroaches?

[hippiegal · 6/10 · 7 August 2002]

May contain spoilers

This is actually a cute movie. Joe is a Iowa college Grad who's moved to the big, bad, dirty city. By sheer fate he gets to move into a dump that he calls home. Where he has to live with thousands of sassy cockroaches. Jerry O'Connell(sp?) very likable in this movie. No matter what happens to Joe you root for him. Lily is also one of the most likable love interest characters you'll find in a mid 90's 'gen X' flicks. Her caring for both gardening and the community is nice to see in a character. Call me warped but I thought Robert Vaughn playing a cross dressing Senator was funny. But the roaches steal the show. They sing,the dance, they watch TV,you name it. In terms of musicals I'd rather watch this over Evita any day. To be forewarned this isn't a happy feel good comedy. This movie has one of the most pessimistic views on city living you'll find in a comedy. The gross out humor can be pretty tacky as well. ( Of course this is a movie about cockroaches.)

Overall a likable low budget movie.

aggressively disgusting

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 14 May 2016]

Joe (Jerry O'Connell) is a naive wide-eyed fresh off the bus Iowan. He gets robbed right away at the New York bus station. He befriends the strange Walter Sh1t. He gets a rundown cockroach-infested apartment. Thugs are intimidating tenants to clear out the building for Senator Dougherty (Robert Vaughn). It's the last piece before he can build a giant prison. The cockroaches find a viable roommate in the messy Joe. Joe falls for Senator Dougherty's daughter Lily (Megan Ward) who's working on a community garden in the neighborhood.

This is aggressively disgusting. It's very distracting. Even without the roaches, this would be a bad comedy. The roaches are more appealing than O'Connell. With them, I can't possibly concentrate on the jokes. It wallows in disturbing images. The close-ups are especially bad. There are people who like outsider tastes. This one takes it too far.

Stupid, and with singing cockroaches? I love it!!

[owen_barwick · 14 January 2006]

We happened to notice this on the TV in the video store one evening, and decided we had to have it. Unfortunately for the poor shop assistant, she was in the middle of watching it and had to take it out of the VCR to rent it to us.

Turned out to be a great choice, even though I hate cockroaches! A marvelously silly, feel-good film. Yes, of course it has a standard plot-by-numbers plot-line, but it's rare to find a film that doesn't these days.

What's even better is that the shops think it is a bad film, so the DVD is very cheap. Go out and buy one!

Don't eat the popcorn

[DennisLittrell · 5/10 · 17 February 1999]

This is really a cartoon. The characters are caricatures without any depth, and the story line is beyond silly. The roaches have most of the good lines, delivered staccato-fashion so that it's hard to pick them up, just the thing for repeat and cult viewers. Amid the Loony Toons slapstick there are some good sight gags and some diverting hijinks. Mercifully the roaches are not quite as disgusting as possible.

Jerry O'Connell plays a Wayne's World kind of sweet guy who spends a lot of time on his back surrounded by the Lilliputian roaches who even tie him down. But he gets the girl, the beautiful and talented Megan Ward, who has little to do other than mug, which she does very prettily.

Nonetheless there is a strange pull to this loser-ID flick: perhaps it is a metaphor for the world in which we live, surrounded by filth and the ever-present reminder that cockroaches will inherit the earth.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Fun For The Right Kind of Crowd

[enid_coleslaw2 · 7/10 · 3 August 2005]

I never thought I'd be praising a film for it's cockroaches but what can I say these little guys have style and some serious musical talent. The musical bits in this film are really original and alone would make this movie worth seeing and no its not just because they feature cockroaches.

Aside from the vermin the visuals in this movie are great and almost have a cartoonish comic book element to them. It's kind of a shame that director John Payson hasn't had a chance to make other films since he seems to have a certain flare. The plot is rather thin its your basic boy meets girl boy tries to get girl story but others films have done worse job with the same material. Aside from the aforementioned cockroaches music wise you have to give the film credit. It has Moby long before he broke out with his album 'Play' and for a brief second you get to see what he looks look with hair ....well some hair.

This film has a sense of humor and style that makes the idea that anybody thought it could be a mainstream hit kind of laughable. This is a certain film for an audience with a certain sensibility and is definitely not for everyone. If singing cockroaches don't sound like your thing then chances are you won't enjoy this film and the rather charming and talented vermin that star in it. However if your sense of humor is a little off Joe's Apartment is well worth checking out.

Chirps, but is otherwise devoid of merit

[Spleen · 2/10 · 10 January 2001]

The high-pitched singing of the Chipmunks - I trace it back to the mice in "Cinderella" (1950), although there could be earlier instances - is a product of electronic trickery, a childishly simple gimmick; yet it was enough to make bland pop standards sound magically fresh, if you were a seven-year-old. High-pitched singing is really all that "Joe's Apartment" has going for it. Make the high-pitched singers cockroaches, and you can rope in older viewers who wouldn't dare admit even to themselves that they still find the Chipmunks kind of fun to listen to. The plot is perfunctory - it tries to make its perfunctory nature into a knowing joke, and fails - and the love story is poisoned by irony. (Cloying sentiment is not improved by being placed inside quotation marks.)

Neither worth watching, nor worth remembering, nor even worth avoiding. Why am I even writing about it? Good question.

Great Musical Sequences

[cameo-kirby · 7/10 · 15 September 2008]

When I read that someone had made a musical with singing & dancing cockroaches in a filthy apartment I was surprised. That the movie tanked didn't surprise me. I finally saw it and I loved it. Too funny. The musical scenes are great. Whoever planned them out knows a lot about musicals and what makes a song work on screen. The homage to "Footlight Parade" and the Esther Williams aqua spectaculars (aka the song in the toilet bowl) proves it. Great special effects. I wouldn't show it to small kids though-I did and they cried-the bugs freaked them out. Showed it again 6 years later to the same kids and they laughed and laughed. Very imaginative and the musical numbers are better than a lot of what has had some mainstream critics soiling themselves over in recent screen musicals.

MTV, stop releasing movies.

[ProjetErreur · 2/10 · 23 August 2005]

This film is undeniable proof that shorts, especially MTV created ones, cannot make a good film. "Joe's Apartment" runs out of ideas before the halfway point. The Character Joe rents out an apartment, occupied by acres of cockroaches, who sing and dance and give Joe unwanted company. OK, we get it already.

So how does a film revolving around annoying little roaches extend to 90 minutes? By adding in that predictable subplot involving the hard-to-get love interest for Joe of course, who the viewers automatically know will end up together by the end of the movie. Haven't we seen this predictable boy-gets-girl plot in countless other films? Well, not with singing and dancing roaches. I'll give it that.

Joe somewhat befriends the roaches, even they are annoying and give him grief. Consider a scene where Joe brings a date to his apartment. The roaches hide, and the date suspects nothing. Soon after, when things look as if they're going well for Joe, the roaches fall out of the chandelier and fall all over Joe's date. Soon after, roaches everywhere, terrifying the girl. Joe tells her it's OK, but what woman is going to listen to that? So what does Joe do? He may start off as mad, but he always forgives them. This angers me. These are vindictive, controlling, and annoying roaches who, if I was occupied with them, would drive me to a point to get my apartment exterminated. These roaches cause Joe nothing but grief, and torture, and they invade his privacy; yet the film is supposed to make us laugh.

When the film reaches its inevitable conclusion, I was so annoyed and disgusted by this time that I couldn't feel any of the euphoria the film was trying to feed its viewers. It didn't work.

The film was made my MTV studios and it looks like it should have been a made-for-TV film specifically for MTV. I have not seen the short on which this was based, but I assume it was funnier that this film - it would rely on the roaches singing and dancing routine(s), without the subplots that a full length film has to have to reach its 90 minutes, which just made the cockroaches grow annoying, crude, mean, and tiresome.

A crack headed former aquaintance of mine loved this film

[kingcasey_iii · 1/10 · 18 February 2023]

This said individual also sired multiple children with multiple spouses and abandoned them to be raised by the Canadian tax player's expense. He survived heroin rehabilitation and is currenty on leave pending "PTSD" from a trucker accident. Aka faking it, sponging off yet another estranged wife, while raising his only daughter and behavioral challenged-attention challenged deliquent of a son....

This is the typical audience following of this movie and their intellect. He giggled like a gleeful man baby child in a candy store during the Cockroach singing around a toliet scene...

As for myself.. I gave up cannabis and went back to school after watching this with him...

Funny and well shot

[holicool · 8/10 · 3 January 2006]

I was quite surprised when I saw the mark given by the IMDb users to this film. Indeed, even though it's not the best movie of the century, I found it quite entertaining and "fresh".

I loved the way it is shot, there is a real work on the layouts that makes Joe's apartment look dirty and moving at the same time. Besides, the visual effects are well done for a film that dates back to 1996. They are not THAT impressive but they are very efficient to create the funny atmosphere. I could not describe the way I laughed rolling on the floor when I saw those roaches watching an "insect porn movie", it cracked me up.

This movie is worth seeing for sure and does not deserve such a mark. Everyone who's curious should watch it to make his/her own opinion and should not pay attention to the five miserable stars given to the film.

Stupid but funny

[michellegatt89 · 6/10 · 22 April 2007]

This film is one of the most stupid films ever but it's very entertaining. Even though I hate cockroaches I couldn't help but to like the singing cockroaches in this film. I love it in the end when there is a choire of cockroaches singing a love song, I was in stitches after hearing that. Though I think this film is more for the young teenagers who like toilette humour and kind of childish jokes. I have seen better comedies but this was quite good but like I have just written this film consists more of teenage kind of jokes rather than mature adult jokes. This is a kind of film which doesn't require brains as there is no complex story. If you just need to have a laugh this is a recommended film, like I said it was a very stupid film but very entertaining.

This film belongs with the cockroaches - in a dark place, hidden away!

[Lil_Kleopatra · 2/10 · 2 December 2008]

I cannot begin to express my disdain and hatred for this film. I think I actually got dumber from having seen it...

This is honestly one of THE worst films I have ever had the discomfort of sitting through. I made myself watch the entire thing because it wouldn't be right to put down a film I hadn't fully given a chance to. It was almost painful folks.

It's disgusting, it's not funny, it's poorly acted, it's poorly written, it's beyond ridiculous and to make it even worse - they added musical numbers!!!!! I mean, how on earth could this film have gotten ANY worse? (oh right, see musical numbers) It is so wrong on pretty much every level and I, for one, am surprised Jerry O'Connell even shows his face in Hollywood after this disaster. (for crying out loud, Kangaroo Jack is 10 times better than this piece of refuse)

Save your brain cells, skip this one. (and yes, it WAS "that bad"!)

Singing and dancing cockroaches. Is that ingenuity or what? Ha, ha!

[squir1y · 5 September 2001]

This movie is pretty funny. What it lacks in intelligence, it makes up for in fun.

Joe(O'Connell)has just to New York City and into his first apartment. The only problem: it's infested with thousands of talking cockroaches. They all seem to be a pain in Joe's butt, but the roaches come in more useful for him than he thought.

This movie is no classic, of course I don't think any of MTV's movies will be considered classics. But they are really funny(also see Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and Dead Man On Campus).

It's a hilarious and fun little flick, even for people who don't like bugs. 8/10