Barry Sonnenfeld's Intergalactic Guide to Comedy (2002 Video) User Reviews

awful

[movieman_kev · 1/10 · 23 August 2005]

This 6 minute featurette on how Barry Sonnenfeld approaches comedy for "Men in Black 2" can be found on the second disc of the 2-DVD special edition of the aforementioned movie. you know what? I should have put the word comedy in quotation marks, as the only thing Barry ever did that even approaches real comedy would be "Get Shorty" but that's neither here nor there. Back to the topic at hand. This short featurette includes various interviews with cast and crew about how "deadpan funny", "genious", and "great" Barry is. This feature made me ill and I couldn't wait for it to be over. And he pretends that the audience is so great for "finding" the "hidden" funny bits. Do they really hold the audience in such contempt??

My Grade: F

This time, they're paying me a lot of money

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 8/10 · 13 September 2019]

This consists of interviews with the cast and crew, all of whom have something compelling to add within their area of expertise(and there is a very clear love of what they're working on), clips from the movie, behind-the-scenes footage, and incomplete effects shots.

It's 6 minutes long. This is found on the double disc DVD of Men in Black II.

They talk about the titular rules. Shoot it low and wide, actors talk fast and flat. Don't try to be funny. The concept and the flavor of the comedy is very distinct. Dry. Ironic. Lee Jones' reaction shot is better than Smith's joke. Create absurd situations that fit within the story and just let them play.

I recommend this to any fan of the property. 8/10

OK but not really that interesting

[bob the moo · 20 April 2003]

This short is a look at how director Barry Sonnenfeld directs comedy, in particular the MIB films. With interviews with the man himself, cast and writers we see how he lets the audience find the jokes without having to try too hard.

There is an element of this that is a bit of back slapping for Sonnenfeld, however it is still worth watching as no-one else is going to hold a discussion on the act of writing MIIB! The people with the most to say are Sonnenfeld himself and the writers. It is quite interesting to see how the film is written to have a comic feel rather than just jokes.

Some of it is interesting but much of it is stuff that didn't need to be said. For example spending a couple of minutes on the fact that Jones is funny in his stony look and responses wasn't needed - we know this.

Overall it is a bit of a slap on the back for Sonnenfled and his writers - and they deserve it, after all, everyone else gets their own featurette on the MIIB DVD so why not them! However it is really of limited interest and could have been presented in a much more interesting way.