Men in Black 1997

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: A smart, funny and hip adventure film in a summer of car wrecks and explosions. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though its charm is in its attitude and premise (and Danny Elfman's rousing score), Men in Black does have a serviceable plot that kicks in when a rusty flying saucer crash-lands in a rural area. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: There's a playfulness, here, that you don't often find in a special-effect flick. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Men in Black is moderately amusing, well-constructed and mercifully short, but it fails to deliver on the zaniness of its first half. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The film's technical team reflects exceptional stylistic harmony. Read more

Stephen Thompson, AV Club: Men In Black deserves credit for supplementing its special effects with a breezy script and genuinely charismatic performances by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The cool wit and fun (derived partly from the premise that the cheap tabloids are the only newspapers telling the truth) are deftly maintained, and Sonnenfeld provides a bountiful supply of both fanciful beasties and ingenious visuals. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: Men in Black is the wryest, sharpest, most entertaining special effects film in recent memory, a simultaneous participant and mocking parody of the more-bang-for-your-buck behemoth genre. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Every time the film makes you chuckle, you may also feel it's zapped you with a neuralizer. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The result is a rich picture with a winning personality, as modest in theme as it is in style. Read more

Dave Kehr, New York Daily News: Its attitude is poised somewhere between the deadpan ghoulishness of the Coen brothers and a Letterman-like sense of the absurdity of life in New York's rich ethnic stew. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Those accepting Men in Black for what it is will likely agree that this is one of 1997's more satisfying big-budget offerings. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Men in Black continues this summer's tradition, already established by Con Air and Batman and Robin, of big-budget action pictures that at least have the wit to know how silly they are. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Director Barry Sonnenfeld loads the bases with action, fantasy and laughs, and hits a grand slam. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: For a picture being sold as a big-budget special-effects comedy, Men in Black is surprisingly, pleasingly modest. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: At times, it may succeed at manipulating you, but you won't like it. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The smartest, funniest, and best-looking sci-fi comedy since the movies learned to morph. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: As ragged as the humor is, there still are more hits than misses. Read more

Tom Charity, Time Out: It's so much fun, in fact, that it's almost over before you realise that you've been watching a great idea for a movie in desperate search of a plot. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A wild knuckleball of a movie that keeps dancing in and out of the strike zone. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: It's just the best yuk of the week. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: Based on an obscure comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, this cheerfully perverse movie could just as easily have come directly from the text of a supermarket tabloid. Read more