November Nineties continues here on the ye olde blog thing and Cinema Sunday continues with posts about movies from the 1990's.Today's movie takes us to 1997 and a really amazing amalgamation of comedy, science fiction and action.
Put on the dark sunglasses and power up the neuralizer. It's time for Men In Black.
There is some back story on how Andrea and I came to see this movie when it first came out. Men In Black was released the same time Andrea's dad was in the hospital for colon surgery.
Johnnie had gone to the doctor for what was supposed to be a routine medical exam and it turns out he had some polyps or tumors or something weird that didn't belong. So he made a phone call to say that "By the way, I'm going in for surgery" and...
"By the way"? Really?
Anyway....
Long story made short, the surgery went fine, the weird stuff was all benign and after a few days of recovery, he went home, end of story.
Over the years, Andrea's retelling of this event brings him closer and closer to death and she can't believe we actually went to see Men In Black while her dad was at death's door.
We went to see Men In Black because the crisis was over, her dad was going to be fine and we really owed ourselves a night out at the movies.
Men In Black was Will Smith's 2nd consecutive sci-fi summer hit after Independence Day and Will thought he was king of the summer blockbusters.
A year later, Wild Wild West would punch a big hole in that rep.
The part of Agent J almost did not go to Will Smith. The 1st actor considered for the part was Chris O'Donnell who played Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman Forever. The next actor in line was David Schwimmer.
Yeah, Ross from Friends was up to play Agent J.
Are you trying to imagine to guy who was Ross Geller saying, "You see that? NYPD! it means Knock Your Punk-ass Down!"
It makes my brain short out.
Will Smith got the gig because director Barry Sonnenfeld liked Smith's performance in Six Degrees of Separation (which is really good film I should write about someday) and Barry's wife was a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Still, it took some convincing from producer Steven Spielberg to get Will Smith on board.
Ditto for Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K. Spielberg assured Jones the script would get better.
Originally, Clint Eastwood was considered for the role of Agent K. Tommy Lee Jones is very good at playing an ornery taciturn curmudgeon but Eastwood really is an ornery taciturn curmudgeon so I can't imagine a Men In Black set would've been much fun Eastwood around.
Much of the success of Men In Black owes a lot to the chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, bringing a comic spark to proceedings.
I gotta mention Vincent D'Onofrio as "Edgar", a bug alien in a saggy human suit. "Edgar" is scary as hell and yet still very funny.
Tony Shalhoub is on hand as Jack Jeebs, an alien who runs a pawn shop which carries alien weaponry. In addition to Men In Black, Shalhoub also starred in the murder mystery show Monk and the comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. They all begin with "M". Is there something weird going on with Tony Shalhoub. He was also in the sitcom Wings which yes begins with a "W" but turn it upside down and what do you get? A coincidence? I don't think so!
I think Tony Shalhoub is perhaps really an alien!
And I'm not going to lie to you. I may have come to Men In Black for the comedic camaraderie of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones but I stayed for the sweet sulty sexiness that is that 1990's sex goddess herself, Linda Fiorentino. I'm sure it's vitally important to the plot that medical examiner Dr. Laurel Weaver spend a lot of time in short skirts and dresses.
(Fine! I'm a perv! I'll own it!!!)
As much as I enjoy Men In Black and I have seen it multiple times, it still kind of irks me that a lot of humor comes at the expense of Agent J holding the idiot ball. Stuff like Agent K handing J a tiny gun barely bigger than a Pez dispenser ("Noisy cricket") and then gets pissy with J when he tries to fire it and it has the recoil of a Howitzer cannon. Yeah, it's funny when the itty bitty gun kicks J's ass but come on, what kind of fucked up on the job training is this?
Still, Will Smith get's some cool things to do.
- As police officer James Edwards when he confronts the alien he's been chasing. "You see that? NYPD! it means Knock Your Punk-ass Down!" Will OWNS that line! (No way in hell David Schwimmer could even rent a line like that!)
- Outclassing the "best of the best" in the MIB tests.
- Helping an alien woman give birth to... a squid!
- Agent J is the one who solves the mystery of "Orion's belt".
- He fights alone against "Edgar" in his real alien bug form.
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