Men in Black

"Protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe."

1997 1h 38m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 15,286

ActionAdventureComedyScience Fiction

Synopsis

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After a police chase with an otherworldly being, a New York City cop is recruited as an agent in a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth: the Men in Black. Agent K and new recruit Agent J find themselves in the middle of a deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies.

“Protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe.”

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Cast

Tommy Lee Jones
Kay
Will Smith
Jay
Linda Fiorentino
Laurel
Vincent D'Onofrio
Edgar
Rip Torn
Zed
Tony Shalhoub
Jeebs
Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Beatrice
Mike Nussbaum
Gentle Rosenburg

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Peter Ramsey, J. Todd Anderson, Brent Boates
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Men in Black Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

402+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Barry Sonnenfeld directs. Donald Peterman behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Jim Miller cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 6.5× over at the box office.
329 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
5Part of the "Men in Black Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6402+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
7Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Jim Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith and Linda Fiorentino carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "Protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe.".
12IMDB entry: tt0119654 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1315,286 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
14Classified under 18 themes, including "new york city", "cannon", "space marine", "flying saucer".
15Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald Peterman
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Jim Miller
Production design: Bo Welch
Costume design: Mary E. Vogt
Makeup / hair: Pierce Austin
VFX supervisor: Eric Brevig
Sound: Van Ling
Stunt coordinator: Brian Smrz
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $90,000,000
Box office: $589,390,539
Return: 655% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Men in Black (1997)

Awards

Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Men in Black Collection

A series of American science fiction action comedy films based on Malibu / Marvel comic book series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. Stylized MIB and spawned 2 numbered sequels as well as a spin-off.

Also by

Barry Sonnenfeld

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2017-11-28
★ 6/10
Maybe it doesn't hold up as well as you'd hoped, but both leads are actually putting in the effort in this first entry, and Men in Black is still, after all these years, a bit of fun. Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.
Wuchak2020-05-24
★ 6/10
Fun sci-fi comedy with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith An athletic New York City police officer (Will Smith) joins a shadowy government organization that deals with extraterrestrial interactions on Earth. Tommy Lee Jones plays his senior partner, Rip Torn the head of the agency, Vincent D'Onofrio a possessed hick and Linda Fiorentino an attractive coronor. "Men in Black" (1997) is wildly amusing in the first half, but loses its energy a bit in the last act. Nevertheless, it fills the bill for when you’re in the mood for fun & thrilling popcorn entertainment. It inspired three sequels as of this date: “Men in Black II” (2002), “Men in Black 3” (2012) and “Men in Black: International” (2019) with the last one being the only movie in the series without Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The film runs 1 hour, 38 minutes, and was shot in New York City & surrounding area (e.g. Jersey City), as well as Semi Valley, CA (the saucer crash sequence) and nearby Los Angeles/Culver City. GRADE: B-
Kamurai2020-08-27
★ 7/10
Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. This was a better movie historically than actually. It at least felt like it introduced some concepts of having aliens infiltrated Terra into the industry, even if it didn't actually. Maybe it popularized it more, but it was very good at walking the audience across that line that separates our normal Terran view to that of an integrated society. Or maybe I just love the concept of aliens on our planet that much. I definitely don't think it was the manner they took: the humor is as annoying as it is funny most of the time, and Tommy Lee Jones is just as funny as Will Smith (that's saying something, personally) as the straight man, credit to both of them. That said, they were a perfect for the movie, and all the supporting cast did wonderfully. Vincent D'Onofrio, as "Not Edgar", was probably the funniest character in the movie to me, and I don't think he was supposed to be. The "haze the rookie by leaving out vital information" bit is cliche and worn out, but that's have the jokes here. I definitely like the movie, and I love what it could have been.