National Lampoon's Men in White is a 1998 Sci-fi spoof Made-for-TV Movie from Saban Entertainment and aired on Fox Family about two white-uniformed garbage men named Roy and Ed (Thomas F. Wilson and Karim Prince) who have to save the world from invading aliens. The film is a parody of not just Men in Black, but also Independence Day. In the same vein as Airplane! and The Naked Gun, there are many visual gags and puns, plus cameos and major appearances by Barry Bostwick, George Kennedy and Ben Stein.
Men in White contains the following tropes:
- Breaking the Fourth Wall
- The aliens shoot at the White House's subtitles with an aide saying "Sir, they destroyed our subtitles."
- In one scene, Roy asks the camera a question and it causes the camera to nod.
- In a nighttime scene, Roy says to the audience "It would be our target audience's bedtime."
- At one point, Roy and Ed are observing a flying saucer and one of them says "It's showtime!" Then the Fox Family logo on the saucer rotates into view, and he remarks "No, it looks like it's the Fox Family Channel!" (It's also a Stealth Pun referring to the premium channel Showtime.)
- The Ditz: Ed and the president.
- Fantastic Racism: The president hates foreigners, but aliens are okay in his book.
- Running Gag: The sarcastic subtitles that appear and tell the audience stuff.
- When the president hears "Alaska", he thinks he's hearing "I'll ask her."
- Ed doesn't know that a cigar is meant to be smoked, so he eats it.
- Bessie The Cow.
- Every time we're in the Oval Office, the green screen behind the windows displays different random footage.
- Shout-Out
- Dr Strangemeister is a clear reference to Dr. Strangelove.
- "Push this if your name is Ripley."
- When Roy and Ed fire off an alien weapon, it hits the blue Space Ranger.
- Ed is seen wearing Mighty Morphin' underwear when they're about to be vivisected.
- Villain Song: Dr. Strangemeister's song.
