The Mr. Showbiz review...

Alienbusters

Men in Black, starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Linda Fiorentino; directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.

The best word to describe Men in Black is "undercooked." It's got all the ingredients for a great sci-fi comedy: Tommy Lee Jones (whose deadpan style tweaked a great out-of-nowhere laugh in The Fugitive) is teamed with Will Smith (Jedi master of the one-line, intergalactic put-down from Independence Day); and they're dressed up like the Blues Brothers and work a job like the Ghostbusters, "Keeping the earth safe from the scum of the universe." How can it miss?

In an odd way, Men in Black fails by not being great--by not using its tremendous comic opportunities to their fullest. It gets laughs throughout, it rounds the bases of its plot like a reliable big leaguer, but it never quite smacks the ball out of the park. The film begins wittily: Jones, wearing shades after midnight, busts a gooey extraterrestrial who is attempting to sneak onto the earth at the U.S.-Mexican border. Later, he recruits Smith--a New York undercover cop who kept his nerve during a close encounter--to become an "MIB," a special guardian protecting the earth from E.T.s who come here unlicensed.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld (both Addams Family movies, Get Shorty), with a script by Ed Solomon, gets charming performances out of Smith and Jones, and creates a funny hierarchy around them--a high-tech Ellis Island located under New York's battery that oversees "Alien Immigrations." But he repeatedly violates the comic tone, especially whenever the villain (a giant cockroach from another planet) is in play, literally inhabiting the skin of Vincent D'Onofrio, in a very different role from the one he had in Whole Wide World. In these scenes, the violence turns gross and needlessly graphic. Men in Black's humor loses its adult appeal and becomes unsuitable for small children.

D'Onofrio, brilliant as ever, plainly has a ball incarnating this monster--but the scenes themselves are witless; the writing and the direction are not there to support him. Linda Fiorentino is perfectly cast as a sharp-witted morgue doctor who quickly figures out what the Men in Black are up to; she richly deserves to become a third musketeer right from the outset. But the filmmakers squander this possibility, choosing instead to favor the more reliable (if tiresome) attacks of special effects. And in a world where digital tricks make every little whimsy look seamless, a science-fiction movie is honor bound to be exceptional--to do something unforgettable and fresh with its familiar echoes. Otherwise, why should we waste our time?

Independence Day may have wooed viewers with the promise of dazzling effects, but it kept everybody in their seats and won repeat viewers because its sympathetic characters had believable fears and hopes. Despite its clunky and clichéd dialogue, the fantasy made common cause with its audience's very real fears about the future, and the possible end of the world. (If you think about it, hit movies as different as Ghostbusters and Terminator 2 also managed to seriously address such fears, if only for a moment.) Men in Black lacks that odd, personal, slightly neurotic edge. Like Mars Attacks! it draws more on movies we've already seen than anything we've ever felt or feared--but it does so without the wicked wit or the misanthropy that was Tim Burton's guiding passion. Men in Black imitates misanthropy, imitates imitation

59/100

Courtesy of Mr. Showbiz.

The Empire review...

Comedy and sci-fi have never been happy bedfellows. Han Solo may have been a dab-hand at passing bon mot and E.T. could gurgle on cue, but on the whole, sci-fi has always taken itself a bit seriously - there's hardly a slew of choice rib-ticklers in the frosty dystopias of Blade Runner or Alien. It takes the bona fide black comic arts of the Addams Family-helmer Sonnenfeld, and a quite miraculously fabulous teaming of Tommy Lee Jones with Will Smoth to buck the trend. It's more of a complete reversal - this alien-bashing B-movie comedy is the rock 'n' roll cinema experience of the summer. It's sci-fi and it's funny. Really funny.

Based on a little-seen Marvel comic, the theme is a trippy twist on McCarthy paranoia as an ultra-secret government agency - jet-black suits, impenetrable Ray-Bans as standard (hence Men In Black) - round up the illegal aliens hanging around Planet Earth. Aliens as bug-eyed, slime-dolloping visitors from outer space. In this case with the joyous help of the creature-cooking talents of Rick Baker, they come in flippered, polypoid, micro-sized, dog-shaped, and, particularly in the cranky form of a giant interplanetary cockroach with a bad attitude, bent for much of the film into Vincent D'Onofrio's human cossie.

But as showy as the "visitors" are - and D'onofrio's gross big-bug getting riled whenever humans splat his insect buddies is inspired ugliness - the film rests on the actors and their crackling dialogue. Yes this is a big budget event movie not relying on its effects. It's the unexpected chemistry between seen-it-all Agent K (Jones) and whippersnapping new recruit Agent J (Smith, clearly cast for all the Will Smith "vibe" he can muster) that makes MIB sing. Trailing the malevolent roach, who's about to instigate cosmic war, through a bemused New York, their cool doesn't slip for a moment and a groovy buddy-buddy double act of wise-crackage, deadpannery and big-gunned science fiction soars.

Sonnefeld keeps it all bubbling along with a vibrant, comic book buzz. Which at times does grate - he could pause for some better exposition, try his hand at developing the characters beyond the snappy 60s TV spy-cool riff and give all the weird concoctions a chance to breathe (how rare it is to cite a film for being too short). And it doesn't even pretend to have depth. But with the added bonuses of Rip Torn as a Mr. Waverly-esque commander (Agent Z, resident of the alien popping techno headquarters-cum-immigration control), the dead sexy Linda Fiorentino dragged into the chase, Danny Elfman's hip tunes and the best hardware of any movie, anytime, anywhere, there are no excuses for MIB avoidance. Mr Sonnenfeld, a sequel. Soon please.

4/5

Courtesy of Empire magazine, UK.

Empire Connect reader reviews...

Fabulous-oh!!! This is one of the funniest films I've seen this year. Chock full of sophisticated as well as sophomoric humour. Now I know where Elvis went and who invented the microwave and velcro. The continuous laugh had to be given to the alien in the body suit... I mean a real human body suit. He really needed a tailor I also want that government altered sedan with the sixth gear that really kicks. This is a great ad for Ray-Ban glasses, n'est-pas?

4/5

Michael Jacobs

Excuse me. When are we going to see the end of this explosions-are-really-cool plot?, What-the-hell-is-that? fad Hollywood has embraced in the last few years? This movie is another all-special-FX thing in the fashion of ID4 and so many others no-brainers I have (regrettably) seen lately. Don't get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with some good light-hearted entertainment. Please notice I wrote 'good'. But when you start seeing people falling from 20 meters and not get hurt, ultra-sophisticated (working) space ships kept in a parking lot as nice souvenirs from outer space, stupid cops with no fear of ultra-mean aliens, and so much other nonsense throughout the whole movie, you just wonder...how the hell can they pay millions of dollars for a script like that? Personally, I think that some scriptwriters at Hollywood should just be accused of fraud and be sentenced to twenty years of jail (I went as far as death penalty, but that I can admit may be a bit on the overreacting side...). Well, the punchline is that this movie sucks...unless you liked Independence day (which, in that case, means that I hate you). There are a few good touches, though, which only contribute to make me even angrier, as they make me think of how great this movie could have been...if only it was not designed by complete MORONS. Over and out.

2/5

Giacomo Tognoni

Courtesy of Empire Connect.

Coming soon... Tom Shone in The Sunday Times, Neon and Total Film.

N.B. Just as a personal (and objective) guide as to which of the opinions above is perhaps most valid. Empire is Europe's most popular and well-respected film magazine. now nearing its 100th issue, it is read and believed by a huge proportion of the continent's film fans. Mr. Showbiz is not. I'll stick with Empire.