By Guy Wheatley
The Texarkana Gazette

If you wished the first Men in Black had lasted a little longer, then here is another 80 minutes of it. If you're looking for more of the same slapstick and slimy physical humor mixed with the double entendres that hall marked the first film, you've struck gold. If you were expecting significant character or plot development, you are in for a big disappointment.
In the sequel, four years have passed. Agent K  (Tommy Lee Jones) is now running a post office with no memory of his MIB career. Agent J (Will Smith) has lost the enchantment of his new job. There is also no sign of his Partner at the end of the first movie Agent L, (Linda Fiorentino) who replaced K. Unable to find a satisfactory new partner, J develops a reputation for neuralizing (erasing memory with the "flashy thingy) his partners Starting with Agent T. (Patrick Warburton)
Getting rid of Warburton's character so early in the film is typical of the missed opportunities and wasted talent that keeps MIB II from being a stand out sequel. Rather than use the goofy, invulnerability by stupidity that Warburton brought to "The Tick" and "The Emperor's New Groove," he is quickly dumped to set up a short running gag about Agent J's tendency to Flash MIB personnel.
The film explores a few gags based on the role reversal of J reintroducing K to the MIB organization, but too quickly puts J right back at K's side. Just in case anybody misses that we're now back to the old movie, K insists on calling J kid, and J is once again cluelessly following K.
We have a new, and much easier to look at, main villain. In place of the skin-wearing bug played by Vincent D'Onofrio of the first film, we now have an alien impersonating a lingerie model, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, who looks like ... well Lara Flynn Boyle in her unmentionables. Unfortunately this is only an external upgrade. Basically we're back to the same theme of the last film. We've only got a few hours to find something or the world gets blown up.
Since this is basically a reunion film, we at least get to see some of our favorite characters from the last movie. Both Jeebs and the worm guys are back. Jeebs (Tony Shalhoub) of course gets his head blown off. Any one who doesn't see that coming needs an escort home from the theater. He doesn't get much more screen time in this film than he did the last one, but it's quality time.
The worm guys get a little more celluloid and it's media well used. They are every bit as shiftless and lazy as we thought they were from the last film, but they are also funny. You wouldn't want to have to put up with these guys yourself, but it's funny to watch someone else have to. Throw in a 60s style bachelor pad and a beautiful lady who needs to hide with them, and you can let your imagination run wild. The next time we check in at the worm residence, they've got her playing twister. They may be lazy, but they're not stupid.
Frank the pug is back, voiced by Tim Blaney. Frank spends more time in front of the camera in this film, but not enough. As with Agent T, he's used for a few sight gags, then shoved aside for the J, K reunion. He puts in a few more appearances, but he never makes the contribution he could have. There was the potential to get the same chemistry going that worked so well between Joe Pesci, Mel Gibson, and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon movies. Alas, it is yet another opportunity missed.
The first movie had the added advantage of cutting edge CGI effects. The effects in MIB II are just as spectacular, but not more so. They are about five years off the cutting edge, entertaining but not breath taking. That is a fair description of MIB II, entertaining. But not breath taking.

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