Date: Fri 21-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Playing-Smith-Jones-Men-Black

Full Text:

(rev "Men In Black" for Now Playing)

`MIB' A Perfect Step For Smith, & Great Pairing With Jones

On paper, it looked like deja vu all over again: In 1996, Will Smith starred

in the year's most successful film, Independence Day , a science-fiction

blockbuster about alien invasion which opened in theaters on the July 4th

weekend. Not long after this, the news broke that his next film would be

another sci-fi extravaganza about aliens among us. This new outing, Men in

Black , would be scheduled to open on the July 4 holiday weekend in `97.

Coincidence? Hardly.

Studio execs in Hollywood know how to slavishly draw from a successful well

(some might call it shameless copying) until it is bone dry (and in the case

of Tinseltown, often long after it has gone arid). Thus Men in Black , just as

the folks from Columbia hoped, emerged as 1997's most successful film. Yet, it

has achieved this distinction not because it apes last year's top hit, but due

to a clever sci-fi/comedy mix and a smooth blending of charismatic stars

(Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) and a witty director (Barry Sonnenfeld).

The premise is this: The gossip, tabloid rags have gotten it right. Aliens are

in our midst and they're not just cabbies or 7-11 proprietors. They are Wall

Street traders, school teachers, talk show hosts, even the boy next door. They

live among us, disguised as humans, and are kept in check by a hush-hush

Manhattan agency called MIB. They regulate a different kind of illegal alien

immigration and, with the help of a memory-erasing device, make certain none

of the general populace catches on to these otherworldly visitors.

Smith stars as a young cop who is recruited by MIB and paired with a veteran

agent (Jones). The movie gets a lot of mileage out of the initiation of the

newest agent and these sequences are chock full of inside jokes and sharp

dialogue. Before long, this newly teamed dynamic duo is on the case of a nasty

new alien arrival: a giant cockroach-like critter who has inhabited the body

of a farmer (Vincent D'Onofrio) and stolen some important property. In fact,

the pilfered goods have some mighty upset owners, who vow to vaporize the

earth if their belongings are not returned to them.

Director Sonnenfeld, whose credits include The Addams Family flicks and Get

Shorty , further displays his talent for offbeat observation. A former

cinematographer, Sonnenfeld has always had an eye for unique visual stylings,

but as a director he has also shown a knack for astute tongue-in-cheekiness.

For every elaborate effect and inventively outlandish creature, there is a

hilarious one-liner or side-splitting sight gag (wait until you get a load of

a diminutive alien informant that gets a literal shakedown by the MIB agents).

Whereas Independence Day , Smith's previous film, was an updating of the `70s

disaster flick, replete with cataclysmic events, a huge cast, and rah-rah

crowd-pleasing moments, Men in Black takes a more ironic, self-aware stance,

poking fun at genre conventions all while using them to the movie's best

advantage. As it makes full gain of the big screen's current alien vogue, the

film also taps into "The X-Files" territory, covering the paranoia/conspiracy

theory niche.

As for the cast, Jones and Smith make a fine team. Jones does his best

"Dragnet"-style impression, and Smith proves his boyish charm is maturing

nicely into movie-star cool. Linda Fiorentino registers nicely as an eccentric

morgue director, D'Onofrio is just plain bizarre, and Rip Torn (as an MIB

boss) is, well, Rip Torn (that's a good thing).

One minor drawback is that Men in Black , which arrives at Newtown's Edmond

Town Hall this weekend, is a bit gamey at points for younger children.

Appropriately rated PG-13 for violence and profanity, the film features more

than its share of eye-rolling innuendoes and peppers its fine script with a

few unnecessary "colorful metaphors."