Men in Black (1997)

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by Ed Solomon and David Koepp, based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rip Torn

My Advice: Matinee.

The beauty of this film is that nothing, absolutely nothing is sacred.  Not Tommy Lee Jones, not Elvis, and certainly not cab drivers.  The fact that Jones and his fellow agents walk amongst weirdness as if it were everyday (which it is) is enough to send you rolling, but the fact that the references to modern culture (who really did invent Velcro?) are woven nicely into the fabric so they're neither annoying nor intrusive.  Jones is great, his speech about what Smith knew yesterday versus what he might know tomorrow is remarkably apt for a gag-filled script such as this.  Will Smith plays the young foil to Jones' old agent well, though he is essentially Capt. Steven Hiller in a nice suit--but you don't mind.  The real stand-out amongst the ensemble is D'Onofrio as Edgar, the cockroach on crack wearing a human skin, doing a splendid, hilarious job of auditioning for Evil Dead 4.  Remarkably thin in plot but thick in effects, it wasn't the best film of the summer--but it was packed with peanuts and satisfied.