Men in Black

Other mistake: In the final scene outside the MIB headquarters, Kay opens the neuralizer and we see it open, but there is no sound. Later when Kay tells Jay that he hasn't been training a partner but a replacement, we hear the sound of the neuralizer opening and Kay tells Jay how to operate it. (01:27:45)

Other mistake: There is a mistake in the French subtitle translation. In the diner when the cook asks Edgar the Bug, "where's Ivan?" Edgar responds, "[I] gave him a break". The translator writing the subtitles must have thought he was saying "GIVE him a break" because the subtitle reads, "laisse-le tranquille" which means, "leave him alone". (00:42:10)

Other mistake: When K is searching for his wife on the computer, the zoom in highlight boxes don't match the videos.

Other mistake: When the two men are in the diner before they get killed by Edgar the bug, the subtitle reads, "Sure. I ordered you some Pirogi". The correct spelling is Pierogi. (00:42:00)

Other mistake: Soon after Jay pushes the little red button on the Ford POS, Kay inserts an eight track cassette. If you look at the eight track player, you can read "Select". The car is upside down at this point, but the word "Select" on the player, as well as the title of the cassette, "Elvis 'Promised Land'" are both right-side up. This means that, if the car were right-side up, the text would be upside down, and, in turn, the entire cassette player would be upside down. It is clear that this mistake was made by not paying attention to the orientation of the car as the scene was shot. It is also clear that the shot is done with the camera right-side up since Kay is in the driver's seat, which, right-side up, would be on the left, but since the car is upside down, he's on the right, which is seen when he inserts the tape. (01:14:20)

Knever

Other mistake: At the very beginning, when K disintegrates the alien Mikey, an MIB cover-up team arrives on the scene and approaches K at a distance of about ten meters (roughly 30 feet) ; whereupon K instructs them: "Give me a splay burn around the perimeter with holes at forty, sixty and eighty meters from right here! Thank you!" The team members disperse a scant few steps and use their flamethrowers and extinguishers on the cacti and undergrowth in the immediate area for five seconds. However, the distances K describes (forty, sixty, and eighty meters) would require the team laboriously dispersing hundreds of feet into the desert. But five seconds later, they're still only about 30 feet away from K when he says, "That's good! Thank you!" (00:07:55)

Charles Austin Miller

Other mistake: Jensen (U.S. Army West Point Officer) addresses himself as a Second Lieutenant, but upon closer inspection of his rank (bars on his shoulders), they are Silver. Silver bars indicate a 1st Lieutenant, Gold indicates a 2nd.

Matdan97

Other mistake: After Mikey is gone, the guard comes down the embankment. As he does, the background "sky" now seems to have a long multi-story building outlined in it.

Movie Nut

Other mistake: When K is deleting all documents belonging to Edwards (later J), his passport says he was born in Indiana, but his birth certificate says he was born in Manhattan, New York.

Matdan97

Other mistake: The first time the neuraliser is used it shows hours, weeks and years. But at the end of the film the lead character tells J to remember that it's "days, months, years." (00:08:06 - 01:24:52)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Perhaps there are different models of neuralyzers.

I don't think arguing "perhaps such-and-such" is necessarily strong enough of a reason to correct a mistake. Nothing in the movie indicates they are different models, so it's probably best to assume they're the same.

TedStixon

Revealing mistake: When Will Smith throws a rock at the escaping Edgar alien, if you watch the rock after it hits the alien, it disappears after hitting the ground. (01:23:20)

More mistakes in Men in Black

Kay: Imagine a giant cockroach with unlimited strength, a massive inferiority complex and a really short temper is tear assing around Manhattan in a brand new Edgar-suit. That sound like fun?

More quotes from Men in Black

Trivia: After reading the script with his wife, Barry Sonnenfeld (the director) turned to his wife and said "Tommy Lee Jones". She turned to him and said "Will Smith", and that is how they were cast. This is confirmed by Barry Sonnenfeld on the DVD commentary.

THGhost

More trivia for Men in Black

Question: When I watched both films in succession, I noticed the same person played both the man on desk at the morgue and Newton, the video store owner in the second film. Is there a reason for him being in both films?

Answer: The person in question is actor/comedian David Cross. In the first MIB film, Cross is listed in the credits as "Morgue Attendant," and he ends up glued to the morgue ceiling, presumably killed by The Bug. If he had survived, the Men in Black would have certainly neuralized him, anyway, and he would have no memory of the alien encounter or the Men in Black. In MIB 2, David Cross is listed as "Newton" (the video store nerd) who apparently recognizes K, because K had asked Newton to reserve a videotape for him at some time in the past. K made this video request before he ever met J, and then K neuralized himself after leaving a trail of clues leading to the video store. Newton remembers K, so Newton hasn't been neuralized in years. Therefore, Newton in MIB2 cannot be the same character as the Morgue Attendant in MIB.

Jazetopher

Answer: David Cross plays Newton in both movies. In the first he is attacked by the Bug but survives and something went wrong with his neuralyzing as in the sequel he knows small things about the men in black like how they appear and he recognises the neuralyzer from his previous encounter with it, which isn't a coincidence. It appears J's neuralyzing of Newton did work and we don't see him in the 3rd movie (probably because he is in jail for the murder of his mother).

lionhead

More questions & answers from Men in Black

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.