Skyscraper (1996)

It's Die Hard...
in a Skyscraper, just like the original.

Is the main character an average Joe?
Only when Playboy Models are considered average. Anna Nicole is a simple helicopter pilot for a company that provides a sort of air-taxi-service. She is also in possession of very big breasts and knows how to fight apparently. They must teach self-defense in the Playboy Mansion I guess.
Average she is not, but she doesn't have a background in the military or something like that. Her husband did taught her how to shoot though.

Sidekick?
Yup, two in the form of her breasts who both get their fair share of screen time.

Any personal problems?
She wants a baby while her husband, an LAPD officer, does not.

Is the lead character there by coincidence?
Yes, she just happens to be the person to drop off the lead villain by helicopter at the skyscraper in the title and even though she was ordered to wait for him to come back she goes inside the skyscraper to use a phone and becomes part of the action.

Are there any friends or family in danger?
Her husband at one point also is in the building but he's never in as much trouble as she is. She almost gets raped at one point giving us an image of a nude woman shooting someone.

What's at stake and why aren't the authorities doing anything?
Fairfax is intent on collecting a series of four interlocking electronic devices that can somehow "shift the balance of power in the world." He has already acquired three of the devices and is going for the fourth device, which is in the Zitex building, an 86-floor skyscraper. The authorities can't enter the building because the building is built to withstand civilian riots and paramilitary attacks.

Any charismatic villains?
Fairfax (Charles M. Huber) loves to quote Shakespeare and Henry the 4th. His henchmen all are plucked right out of the gym.

Is it any good?
Quite the opposite of good, as this direct-to-video movie is more of a soft-porn version of Die Hard. That does mean we get to treated to lots of extended nude scenes featuring Anna Nicole, scenes that normally you would expect in a Playboy movie. The acting is atrocious, especially in scenes in which Anna Nicole has dialogue.