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JOE’S APARTMENT

JOE’S APARTMENT ($35) is the kind of film one would expect to die at the box office, so I wasn’t surprised when it did. But, after seeing the Laserdisc, I feel that this film really deserved much better. I couldn’t help liking JOE’S APARTMENT because it is such an endearing goof-ball of a movie- one that it is destined to become a cult classic. Hey, how could anyone not like a movie that features 50,000 singing and dancing cockroaches performing Busby Berkley-esque musical numbers. JOE’S APARTMENT stars Jerry O’Connell as Joe, the small town innocent who moves to New York City. Of course, Joe is of limited means and has difficulty finding a place to live. Then, an apartment in a rent controlled building falls into his lap. On the downside, the place is a pigsty and infested with cockroaches. Since Joe himself is a pig, he fits into his new surroundings without noticing his roommates. The other drawback to Joe’s apartment are the goons who try to evict Joe, so that his building can be torn down to make room for a maximum security prison. Joe’s roommates take a liking to him and protect him from the goons. When the roaches finally make their presence known to Joe, they end up infesting every aspect of his life. Jerry O’Connell is a very likable performer, and is perfectly cast as the wide-eyed innocent dealing with big city life. The cast of JOE’S APARTMENT also features Megan Ward as Joe’s would-be girlfriend, and Robert Vaughn as her scheming Senator father.

Warner Home Video has given JOE’S APARTMENT a great Letterboxed transfer which lives up to Warner’s usual high standards. The transfer framed at the proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio, colors look natural and the image is nicely detailed. The digitally encoded Dolby Surround soundtrack has a pleasing mix, which works best during the musical numbers. The Pioneer pressing was quite clean, and side two is CAV encoded so that fans can check out the CGI cockroaches. As I stated up above, I really liked JOE’S APARTMENT and I hope that title isn’t overlooked on Laserdisc, the way it was overlooked in the theater.

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THE CINEMA LASER is written, edited and published by Derek M. Germano.

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