Pretty Funny.

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2015)

This had been around on television for some time and I'd avoided it because it seemed so popular among the crowd that likes to see gore and ooze on the screen, and because I tuned in for a few minutes and caught scene in which the two men in black (Smith and Jones -- two exotic names for you) used ray guns to blow the head off an alien, and then another different head, covered with elastic glue, wriggled into sight. Enough is enough.
But I caught the whole film more recently and the humor is generally more subtle than that, although the usual special effects abound. I'll give an example of what I mean. Smith and Jones have just shot down a huge flying saucer that has whirled around the skies like a just-loosed inflated balloon. The saucer crashes into the earth a hundred yard from the two men, and its momentum carries it towards the duo standing there immobile. Closer and closer, it plows through the earth towards the two fixed figure, stirring up a monstrous cloud of roiling dirt and debris. It looks as if they're about to become part of that debris. Jones is starring defiantly at the approaching catastrophe as if staring down a villain in an action movie. Smith says nothing -- no wisecracks, no cries of fright. He simply glances briefly at Jones with an entreating expression. It's only an instant but it's at least as funny as any other scene in the movie.
The catastrophic shoot outs and wreckage may appeal to the kids but what I found most admirable were the smaller touches of absurdity. Multiple TV screens of aliens let loose on earth to lead normal lives include clips of Sly Stallone and a popular network weatherman. Two of the aliens, looking normal, or relatively normal, enter a restaurant for a chat. And the director and writer make sure that we see what they order. Not the usual fare, not sandwiches or spaghetti, but pierogi -- Polish dumplings.
I won't carry on about it. Will Smith is our proxy. He finds out what's going on as Tommy Lee Jones leads him through the problems they face. Smith is often puzzled, frightened, and given to ironic cracks. Jones is his opposite, the straight man who never smiles, and who is just as funny because his absurd statements are delivered deadpan. Ditto for Rip Torn, who plays it almost as a serious thriller. Linda Fiorentino is alluring as all get out and I'm glad she was there, so she could tumble through the trees in a short skirt.
The kids will get a kick out of the wreckage and the grown ups who are sensitive to the more delicate touches will find it funny.