Too many big-studio movies this summer begin with guns blazing and vehicles crashing before the opening credits have even rolled. Men in Black begins with a splat: a firefly wings its way from outer space to Earth only to encounter, with fatal results, a windshield. It's a witty and inventive opening, and indicative of what's to come in this delightfully droll, off-beat sci-fi comedy. Men in Black, which runs only 98 minutes, is a small, deliciously quirky film masquerading as a summer blockbuster—thanks to the casting of high-profile stars Jones and Smith, some nifty special effects and the stylish direction of Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty).
Early on, Jones recruits Smith, a New York City cop, into the Men In Black, a top secret federal agency whose moniker is derived from the boxy, generic black suits its agents wear. Just as the FBI tracks the activities of mobsters, so MIB keeps tabs on extraterrestrials who have taken up residence here on earth. "There are about 15,000 aliens on the planet, mostly in Manhattan," Jones explains to Smith. "Most are just trying to make a living." The movie's slight plot turns on Jones and Smith's pursuit of a particularly nasty alien (D'Onofrio), a creature who drinks huge quantities of sugar water and is intent on starting an intergalactic war.
The plot, trifling as it is, doesn't much matter. What makes the movie such a hoot are the clever gags (Jones regularly checks the supermarket tabloids for tips on aliens, and a huge tracking board at MIB headquarters reveals Newt Gingrich, Sly Stallone and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi to be visitors from other planets), imaginative special effects (including sluglike, pygmy aliens who sit around all day kibitzing, slurping Java and smoking Marlboros) and the snappy byplay between the well-matched Jones and Smith. And Fiorentino is a tart delight as a coroner quick t up on the fact that some of the bodies she's cutting up aren't exactly human. (PG-13)
Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
No need for Hollywood to make an official movie version of TV's Love Boat series. More than filling the bill is Out to Sea, in which Lemmon and Matthau go hormonal, along with a likable cast of equally mature costars (Dyan Cannon, Gloria DeHaven, Donald O'Connor, Hal Linden and the ever fabulous Elaine Stritch) aboard a cruise ship. Without going overboard praising this geezer comedy, one can say that Out to Sea, as directed by Martha Coolidge (Three Wishes), is an agreeable bit of nonsense that will float the boats of Lemmon and Matthau fans.
Here, Matthau plays an inveterate gambler and ne'er-do-well who shanghais Lemmon, his widower brother-in-law, on a cruise to Mexico. Only after boarding does Lemmon discover that Matthau has signed them up as dance hosts, meaning they're responsible for making nice with single lady passengers. "We're not working," reasons Matthau, "we're dancing and cavorting." This setup is mostly an excuse to pair off both men with ladyloves (Cannon for Matthau, DeHaven for Lemmon) and to have Matthau cut the rug, something he does with the antic grace of a giraffe hanging laundry. (PG-13)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, Scott Bairstow
Could it be mere coincidence that the three brothers who are the heroes of this movie are named Stouffer and that the film is full of stuffing? We're not talking the kind of stuffing that you gobble down at Thanksgiving, but rather extraneous, time-wasting subplots.
Wild America tells the more-or-less true story of the Stouffer brothers, three adventurous lads who, in the late '60s as teenagers (the film never specifies their ages, but they seem to be 12, 16 and 18), head across the country with a used movie camera to film wild animals, primarily predators, in their natural habitats. "People want to see 'em before they get killed off," reasons Thomas (Home Improvement), the youngest of the trio. The boys hope to get their footage on TV, which the eldest, Marty Stouffer, eventually does (PBS's Wild America, 1982). Indeed, in real life, all three brothers are now nature documentarians.
If their big trip were all the movie was about, Wild America would be an appealing family film, albeit with a few too many—for small fry—close-ups of growling bears. Unfortunately, however, dopey subplots abound: There's the injured owl, the boys' curmudgeonly father's (Jamey Sheridan) own limited dreams, and fixing up an old airplane. Enough already.(PG)
>Jon Bon Jovi
A ROCKER REBORN
JON BON JOVI HAS ACHIEVED PLENTY of fame as a rocker, and his recognition as an actor is sure to grow with the release of several new movies he's in. But at home with wife Dorothea and children Stephanie Rose, 4, and Jesse James, 2, his star is eclipsed by another multifaceted performer. When Stephanie Rose asks why people want to take her daddy's picture, Bon Jovi says, he reminds her of the time he took her " 'to see Barney [and] all the people wanted to take his picture. Well, people kind of think of Daddy like they think of Barney.' "
At 35, Bon Jovi has no intention of becoming a dinosaur. His new solo album Destination Anywhere is more introspective than the chart-topping, light metal pop ("Runaway") he and his band, Bon Jovi, were known for in the '80s. And with two movies—Homegrown and Little City—coming out this fall, he's also serious about acting. Despite a critically praised debut in 1995's Moonlight and Valentino, Bon Jovi, who recently finished shooting Long Time, Nothing New (costarring Lauren Holly), feels he's just a novice. "Music [is] something you really pick up playing in the garage," he says. "Acting is this craft, something you have to learn." Long Time director Ed Burns (She's the One) says Bon Jovi's education is progressing nicely: "I was surprised at how he was never reluctant to show his vulnerable side."
Bon Jovi's role model? "You have to think of Francis Albert Sinatra," he says. "That guy made 50 movies, and he was still singing at 80 years old. Now that's a hell of a career."
- Contributors:
- Craig Tomashoff.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
