Joe's Apartment (1996)

19% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
42% of users liked it
(35,679 ratings)

This film is based on an innovative short film made for MTV about a guy living in a horrible downtown apartment filled with scores of mischievous, smart-alecky roaches. The story chronicles the adventures of Joe (Jerry O'Connell), a hapless rube from the rural Midwest who journeys to the wilds of… More This film is based on an innovative short film made for MTV about a guy living in a horrible downtown apartment filled with scores of mischievous, smart-alecky roaches. The story chronicles the adventures of Joe (Jerry O'Connell), a hapless rube from the rural Midwest who journeys to the wilds of New York City. Mugged repeatedly on his arrival, his luck seems to turn when he finds an affordable apartment in a very dubious neighborhood. Unfortunately, his landlord (Don Ho) is more interested in evicting or, if need be, murdering his tenants, so that the building can be turned into a (highly profitable) penitentiary. Joe finds the allies he needs in his apartment's cockroaches, who sing and dance their way into his heart. This film should be of interest for fans of 1930s musicals; it makes reference to Busby Berkeley's elaborate dance phantasmagorias and the odd water ballets of Esther Williams. Many of the scenes utilized real roaches who were "choreographed" via tiny filament harnesses and other devices. Animal rights activists will be pleased to note that no roaches were intentionally harmed during filming. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 20 min.
Directed By: John Payson
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

In Theaters: Jul 26, 1996 Wide
On DVD: Mar 30, 1999
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

Joe Leydon, Variety
Unfortunately, nothing that any of the humans contribute to Joe's Apartment is nearly as interesting as the musical numbers and comedy riffs of the cockroaches.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Some viewers will still want to reach for the Raid.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
John Payson's Joe's Apartment may well have been a funny MTV short, but stretched to feature length it's got to be the most putrid picture since The Garbage Pail Kids Movie nearly a decade ago.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
There's not enough story here for something half that length, so we're subjected to numerous pointless and irritating song-and-dance numbers designed to nudge the lame plot towards its conclusion.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The insects have obnoxious, piping little voices and sound like the Chipmunks had inhaled helium.
Andy Seiler, USA Today
So much up-to- the-minute technology hasn't been used for so disastrous a product since the Hindenburg.
Daniel Etherington, Film4
It's nicely realised, by human and roach alike, and something of a landmark in cinematic grossness.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
If it were even half as clever as the promotional web site -- which features such inventions as ROL, a parody of online service AOL -- it would be a small delight. But it's not.
Nick De Semlyen, Empire Magazine
Very puerile humour and a pretty lame storyline.
Michael Ferraro, Film Threat
Good shorts don't make good features...
Frank Ochieng, TheWorldJournal.com
A MTV-style creepy coachroach comedy that tries to be too cute for its own good. My kingdom for a can of Raid!
Dragan Antulov, rec.arts.movies.reviews
'Less is more' is the lesson Hollywood often fails to learn.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
There are some isolated moments in this film that woudl make great shorts. Strung together with the rest of it, though, they just make a mess.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
Quite disgusting really
David N. Butterworth, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A harmless no-brainer.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Tim S

A cute film but forgettable.
Nicki M

I really can't get past my dislike of cockroaches (ugh!) to see a lot in this movie. I guess it is clever, if you like watching singing, dancing cockroaches swirling around a toilet full of brown water or infesting someone's bedding or dinner. I have seen it twice now,… More
I really can't get past my dislike of cockroaches (ugh!) to see a lot in this movie. I guess it is clever, if you like watching singing, dancing cockroaches swirling around a toilet full of brown water or infesting someone's bedding or dinner. I have seen it twice now, both times under protest. The second time, tonight, 14 years after the original viewing. At least this time I could appreciate the 90's nostalgia, but seriously, that is about it. Jerry O'Connell looks as greasy as the cockroaches, although Megan Ward adds a sweet edge to it. All the same.... cockroaches. Ugh!!!!!
Jason O

The parts with the roaches are entertaining - otherwise not very special.
Anthony L

The singing cockroaches were fun but it?s a bit of a boring film
Dean M

The five-minute MTV short is blown up to feature length and loses all its meager charm. The roach musical numbers are actually rather entertaining; it's all the stuff with the humans that stinks. Jerry O'Connell seems never to have washed his face during shooting.
Daniel H

For MTV's first film, quite tame and not at all bad. As a film overall, reasonably bad, but it does have the sort of gritty, low-budget mid-nineties charm... which pretty much fits the subject matter perfectly. Simply put, it's bad, but it's hard to figure out how they… More
For MTV's first film, quite tame and not at all bad. As a film overall, reasonably bad, but it does have the sort of gritty, low-budget mid-nineties charm... which pretty much fits the subject matter perfectly. Simply put, it's bad, but it's hard to figure out how they could have done it better. A time to both praise and blame the subject matter, perhaps.
Fascade F

the nastiest funniest movie that MTV could ever dream of from N.Y.C. !
Duncan R

The singing roaches were cool, I guess. Other than that, this movie sucked.
William G

I remain in awe.
Yinalí R

Loved the movie.
Marcus W

This is a movie that must be approached in the right frame of mind as it's from MTV, and has singing, dancing, swearing, drinking cockroaches. It's a lot of fun but at the end of the day you'll either love it or hate it.
Ira Z

A definite guilty pleasure. Though it had no substance at all, it's still an absurd yet funny and entertaining movie to watch for pure brain cells killing entertainment.
Lee K

freaking gross out of a movie i dont think i got thru the whole thing