Joe Scheffer (Tim Allen) and his daughter Natalie (Hayden Panettiere) start the day excited for "Take Your Daughter to Work Day." Natalie, a talented, young playwright idolizes her father and feels regret about her parents recent divorce. As the two pull into the parking lot of STARKe Pharmaceuticals, they are met by Joe's co-worker, Mark McKinney (Patrick Warburton) who has stopped in the space where Joe normally parks starts the day. Joe and Mark exchange words and this leads to Mark assaulting Joe in front of Natalie. Joe feels he has let his daughter down by embarrassing both her and himself when he was able to fight back.
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Days pass and Joe feels deep regret over the incident in the parking lot. He meets with Meg (Julie Bowen), the champion of happiness and wellness at STARKe. When Meg asks Joe how he would like to deal with McKinney, his gut instinct was revenge and he challenges Mark to a parking lot rematch. Suddenly, Joe becomes an anti-bullying hero among everyone at the office, except Meg, who has developed feelings for Joe, but feels that Joe is a coward by not taking the high road by walking away and letting the drama go. Natalie is also disappointed in her father and begins to spend less time with him.
Still content to pursue the rematch, Joe seeks the assistance of Chuck (Jim Belushi), an ex actor-turned martial arts aficionado, for self-defense tips and training. However, the day of the re-match, Joe realizes that fighting McKinney would set a horrible example for his daughter and alienate Meg forever. Drama seekers in the company wanting to see a knock down-drag out fistfight were disappointed, but Joe's character was intact.
Best part of story, including ending:
The way the anti-bullying message was told in this movie was important for everyone, regardless of background, schooling or workplace to hear and know.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene in the movie featured Meg and Joe at Meg's volunteer gig. As Joe stood there and watched her dancing, sweating and playing basketball with underprivileged children, it showed how good and strong a character Meg is and made Joe come a little out of his lonely shell.
Opinion about the main character:
Joe reminded me of someone that had either lost himself in the world or needed a life reboot to find an even more wholesome form of himself. By doing the right thing in the end, I think he did become a better person.
