Mousehunt
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Gore Verbinski |
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| Honors | |
| They’ve tried Catzilla, a feline so ferocious it can’t be euthanized. They’ve tried booby traps that Rube Goldberg would marvel at. They’ve even tried Caesar (hilariously played by Christopher Walken), a demented exterminator whose “Squeak Seeker 2000” mouse-cam will infiltrate even the cleverest rodent’s secret lair. But the Smuntz brothers Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (British comedian Lee Evans) just can’t win against the tenacious mouse that wreaks havoc in the vintage home they’ve inherited from their father. That’s the one-note premise of this chaotic,… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
They’ve tried Catzilla, a feline so ferocious it can’t be euthanized. They’ve tried booby traps that Rube Goldberg would marvel at. They’ve even tried Caesar (hilariously played by Christopher Walken), a demented exterminator whose “Squeak Seeker 2000” mouse-cam will infiltrate even the cleverest rodent’s secret lair. But the Smuntz brothers Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (British comedian Lee Evans) just can’t win against the tenacious mouse that wreaks havoc in the vintage home they’ve inherited from their father. That’s the one-note premise of this chaotic, lavishly produced comedy that starts on a high note and never lets up, eventually leaving the viewer exhausted. The special mouse effects (live-action, animatronic, and computer-generated) are delightful, and the slapstick is frequently ingenious, but the title says it all in a movie that is little more than an elaborate variation of Home Alone. A prime choice for family fun, but it’s really just a live-action cartoon that overstays its welcome. It’s harmless fun if all you’re looking for is a marathon of slapstick gags and pratfalls, and it’s notable as the final film appearance of veteran character actor William Hickey, who died in June of 1997, shortly after filming of Mouse Hunt was completed. —Jeff Shannon
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What might have been a one-note family comedy becomes something more thanks to the comic brilliance of co-stars Nathan Lane and Lee Evans, as well as the distinctive, dark-fable look given the film by a little-known director named Gore Verbinksi (could he be the next Tim Burton?). Lane and Evans play idiotic brothers who inherit a house and all but destroy it in pursuit of one small, pesky mouse. The guys are always the butt of the sight gags—most of which are very funny—but their considerable powers as slapstick artists are also at play. The climactic scene at an auction was the funniest scene in any American movie in 1997, the year of Mouse Hunt’s release. —Tom Keogh
