BULLY FOR TIM ALLEN 'JOE SOMEBODY' SHOWS OFF CHOPS HE DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

The world knows Tim Allen as a funny guy: the grunting, engine-obsessed Tim ``The Toolman'' Taylor in the ABC series ``Home Improvement.'' He's the one with the quick everymale wit, alternately battling and embracing the testosterone-driven impulses that make him foolish. By his own admission, Allen's the guy who, when facing a scene with four grown men stuck in a glass booth for a squash match, instantly thinks flatulence joke.

Yet when the 48-year-old actor - who is also funny in person - tells you that the role of a revenge-seeking corporate peon in his latest film ``Joe Somebody'' might have fallen more naturally to a dramatic actor like Kevin Spacey, he isn't joking.

``I was shocked that they considered me, considering the vibe of it,'' says Allen. ``They wrote it as a morality tale. If you put a humorous guy in it, it becomes a family type of movie and I use that word softly because sometimes it kills a movie when you say it's a family movie.''

Family-film man

Not that the ``bring the kids'' section of his resume has been anything but stellar. ``Jungle 2 Jungle'' and ``The Santa Clause'' - both directed by his longtime friend and frequent ``Home Improvement'' director John Pasquin - both spelled box-office gold, to say nothing of his two stints as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the two Disney ``Toy Story'' films. A ``Santa Clause'' sequel is in the works, although without Pasquin.

It's the comedy/drama hybrids that have been a little riskier. Fans didn't entirely know what to make of the sci-fi spoof ``Galaxy Quest'' or the divorced couple playing Amish while on the lam in ``For Richer or Poorer.''

``Joe Somebody,'' which opens Friday, is equal parts buffoonery and introspection, the result of what the film's director Pasquin calls ``a dynamic between us and the studio (20th Century Fox). They were afraid of going too dark and we were afraid of going too broad. It was a constant negotiation.''

Allen's character, Joe Scheffer, a video technician for a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, faces more than a few crossroads as he tries to change his life. A parking-lot skirmish with an office bully (Patrick Warburton) sends him into severe depression before he demands a rematch, improving his office standing in the process. Along the way, Joe engages in a dream sequence shopping-cart race with Warburton and is treated to more than a little comic humiliation from a martial-arts master (Jim Belushi) gone to seed.

Joe also experiences a near nervous breakdown. Guess which part of the assignment Allen found easier to handle?

``Ship's sunk, rug pulled out from under you, all those lessons, it's pretty cool stuff,'' says Allen. ``I kept saying, 'Can we get a real actor in here?' and John says, `You are a real actor. Better than you think.' He has a lot of faith in me.''

``Lots of people have said that. Barry Sonnenfeld in the last film (the unreleased film 'Big Trouble') encouraged me to go deeper. He said, 'You don't even know what you've got. You've got anger, and frustration and humor all mixed with intelligence, spirit and love. You've got a lot of (expletive).''

``I can't go start doing 'Othello' right now. That's not what I want to do, but I like this transition.''

Casually dressed during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel, a meditative Allen is pensive one minute, salty and amped the next. He talks with equal enthusiasm about Viktor E. Frankl's ``Man's Search for Meaning'' and conversing with Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura as he does about the ribald ad-libbing that found its way into ``Joe Somebody.''

The film, written by John Scott Shepherd, was not written with Allen in mind. According to Pasquin, the script originally went to Jim Carrey and Robin Williams before ending up with Allen, who had to do some schedule juggling to make it happen.

He's glad he did. ``It's really my favorite mix of movie,'' Allen says. `` 'Galaxy Quest' was like that, too. There were some surprising moments in that movie that stretched your heart muscles as well as your gut.''

Allen drew on parallels in his own life. Like Joe, Allen has a preteen daughter. Like Joe, the actor is coping with divorce. Joe's parking-lot humiliation is the engine that drives him to get off the ropes, stop being invisible and even pursue a romance with the company's wellness program coordinator (played by ``Ed's'' Julie Bowen.)

Joe's transformation stems from the fight, and from an exasperated Bowen confronting him with the question, ``What do you want?''

``She says it and he's weak enough that he has to answer it,'' says Allen. ``Most people don't want to hear the question. Most people say, 'Well, I want to have lunch.' If you accept the question, it means you've got to answer it. You've got to deal with what comes up.''

It's been awhile since Allen hit bottom, but the actor - who spent two years in prison on drug charges - says he understands what people who have are going through.

``I have a 12-year-old daughter just like that, and she's seen me in embarrassing positions but never humiliated,'' says Allen. ``I've been humiliated before. I know what that's like, there's nothing you can do, and at that moment you can make major changes. At that moment, you have so much power because you have nothing left.''

Finding inspiration

Pasquin says that during filming, he saw Allen flex new acting muscles, and he senses where the urge came from.

``I think what appealed to him was the darkness of it and the fact that this guy goes to some places Tim hasn't been able to go in his work so far,'' said Pasquin, who has worked with Allen for 10 years. ``It's about finding which battles are right to fight and facing fears, which are all things he's going through personally as well.''

The pre-transformed Joe is a slumping, bespectacled drudge with bad hair who seems to disappear into his clothes. Allen gave him a back story and had no trouble making him ``a pretty milquetoast guy.''

``I loved the subtle changes in costume, the hair and the weight that changed as he comes out of his shell,'' says Allen. ``The only thing healthy in that entire movie was my daughter. She's the voice of reason. Sounds intense, doesn't it?''

But, Allen hopes, not too intense. The movie is, after all, a Tim Allen project.

``You get me in these scenes, and just like when I've been in trouble in my life, I don't respond with tears, I don't respond with anger,'' Allen says. ``I respond with humor.''

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Photo:

no caption (Tim Allen)

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer