The casting of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in 1997’s Men in Black was inspired. Smith was fleet of foot and mouth, and Jones had a countenance like granite and a delivery like barbed wire. Crisp and visually simple in their suits, they clashed with and complemented one another. The visual effects and the clever tricks behind them—which creepy-looking New Yorker was actually an alien?—were just frosting.

In the 2002 sequel, the filmmakers opted to forgo that balance and go bigger, louder and stupider. For the new third installment, director Barry Sonnenfeld has thankfully chosen the characters once again, even if the improvements go a little too far in the other direction. In Men in Black 3, the two old partners bicker some more until Agent K (Jones) suddenly disappears from the time period. Agent J (Smith) must time travel back to 1969 to stop a vengeful alien, Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), from killing K.

The screenwriters—the credited Etan Cohen, plus some high-profile rewriters—use this device to deepen the love-hate relationship between the two men. The newest brilliant idea is the casting of Josh Brolin, who flawlessly embodies a young, 1969-era Agent K; Brolin is so good that he instantly picks up on the same co-star chemistry as Jones. Another nice touch is Michael Stuhlbarg (from A Serious Man) as Griffin, a sweet, blue-eyed being that can see all times and dimensions at once. (His twinkly joy in watching a crucial Mets game is infectious.)

With veteran Rick Baker in charge of creatures, the visual effects here seem to serve as background for once, and Sonnenfeld employs some of his best slick, smooth camera work. However, the women in the cast, Alice Eve and Emma Thompson as the same character at two different ages, are just wallpaper. And as brilliant a comedian as Clement is, his Boris is boring—all villainous threats and no punch. So with no romance and a weak antagonist, the entire narrative drive of the movie withers, leaving only Smith and Jones (and Brolin)—and that magical chemistry—to carry things. Quite often, that’s enough.