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DVD Mouse Hunt - DTS
What might have been a one-note family comedy becomes something more thanks to the comic brilliance of costars 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
Although you'd think this is a children's movie, it's much funnier. Ernie (a realistic/pessimistic cook who's teetering on the line between polite buisnessman and used car salesman) and Lars Smuntz (clumsy, try-to-be-nice guy with occasional psychotic outbursts) inherit an old string factory and run-down house from their dead father. When both of them are cast out of society (the mayor eats part of a cockroach at Ernie's restaurant and Lars' wife throws him out of the house) they head to their only home: the creepy house their string-obsessed dad left them. When they found out it's actually the missing link in a famous architect's designs, it turns out to be worth over a milllion $. But the house's resident, an intelligent mouse who has kept intruders out of his house for the longest time, begins a chain of laugh-out-loud catastrophic events and outsmarts the brothers, a cat, and even an exterminator (a weird performance by Christopher Walken.) You will like this movie. It's smart, the acting is great, the physical comedy is funny, and I like the little theme music the composer did for this movie. Wonderful film.
Funny But Not Particularly Memorable
As I write this, the average rating for MOUSE HUNT is 3-1/2 stars, which strikes me as a pretty fair evaluation. The movie is funny, and the chemistry between Nathan Lane and Lee Evans is good. In fact, the performances are generally good. Walken is hilarious as the overly intense exterminator. Even the mouse is great. Beyond that, though, the broad slapstick humor is rather predictable and gets somewhat repetitive by the end. Also, for a movie that would appeal to kids, there are a couple of sexually oriented bits that are just a little too much (i.e. Vicki Lewis in a sexy outfit and Lane with his hand way down the front of a woman's dress).
If some unsubtle laughs fit the bill, MOUSE HUNT isn't a bad choice. It's funny enough that most folks will get some chuckles out of it. I have a copy on my shelf and can give it a mild endorsement. Just don't expect too much. It's not going to show up on any list of classic comedies. I'm giving it three stars. That's a strong three, but I can't quite justify four.
Man vs Mouse
Last week, thanks once again to the wonderful Patio theater located on Irving Park at Austin, I caught a delightful fantasy film. It was the Dreamworks production Mouse Hunt.
Two brothers inherit the family string business (Smuntz String) and a run-down old house. Neither is worth anything. Or so it seems at first. The house was designed by an eccentric architect named LaRue and was believed to be only a rumor. Suddenly the house is worth millions. Instead of selling outright, the brothers decide to hold an auction to get a better price. But to reach that point they need to do some restoration and get rid of a very determined mouse.
There are then some scenes of the brothers trying to outwit a mouse that could outwit Einstein. Finally they think they have sent the mouse to Castro and the auction begins. As the price reaches unheard of levels the mouse returns. The brothers are so distraught that they bring about their own ruin and destroy the house. Having nowhere else to go they return to the old string factory. The mouse follows.
Once in the factory the mouse shows some more of its intelligence by starting up the factory line and adding Gouda to the mix. The result is a new form of string cheese that becomes the rage with the mouse hired on as head taster.
This movie is truly hilarious. The mouse is great. I believe the mouse is near immortal as well as a genius. I believe this because there is a tendency for owners of the LaRue house to be found locked in a trunk in the attic. We know for a fact that the mouse defeated Christopher Walken (playing the strangest exterminator you have ever seen) and managed to get him from in front of the house into a trunk in the attic. It is even possible that the mouse was responsible for the architect going mad. Whatever the case, this movie is really worth seeing. If you can not find it in a second-run theater, look for it when it comes out on video.
The human beings are almost as interesting as the title character in this surprisingly subtle and engaging film about the cross-country adventures of a smart-mouthed parrot. As director John Roberts deploys the footage, the bird becomes a vivid personality; every quizzical twist of his head is oddly expressive. The people who interact with Paulie are a quirky and interesting bunch as well, and the casting is topnotch: Tony Shalhoub (The Siege) as a Russian immigrant janitor, Cheech Marin as an open-hearted mariachi musician, and Gena Rowlands as a widowed painter in a footloose Winnebago--all are vividly eccentric individuals, memorable in their own right. There are some tired swipes at the cold-blooded meanies of Big Science (beady-eyed researcher Bruce Davison has Paulie clapped... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gena Rowlands - Tony Shalhoub - Cheech Marin Director(s): John Roberts DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Only a mother or a certified baby-phile could love this John Hughes comedy (he wrote and coproduced it). Aside from that endorsement, the diaper starts to stink. Baby Bink is kidnapped by three inept crooks, but the child escapes from their hideaway, leading to a chase through the city. Bink's journey follows the story line of his favorite bedtime book, Baby's Day Out, and he goes to a zoo, a construction site, and a retirement center. Hughes is following his accountant's favorite bedtime tale, "Let's rewrite Home Alone again," but with very little of the humor or impact of that smash. A number of scenes center on the crushing or incineration of Joe Mantegna's groin, not exactly family-fare yuks. There are some moments of levity with the crooks and a gorilla. --Keith... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Joe Mantegna - Lara Flynn Boyle Director(s): Patrick Read Johnson DVD Release Date: Released the 29 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The popular children's books by Mary Norton have been filmed before, but never with as much imagination and ingenuity as you'll find on display in this delightful fantasy film released to critical praise in 1998. The "Borrowers" of the title are a family of tiny people who live in the walls and under the floorboards in the homes of "normal-sized" humans; they earn their by "borrowing" the household items (string, food crumbs, buttons, etc.) needed to furnish their tiny hiding places and provide their meals. The little Clock family lives happily undisturbed in the home of an aged aunt, but when the aunt dies and her will is stolen by an unscrupulous lawyer (John Goodman), the Clocks face eviction and the frightening hazards of the outside world. Under the ingenious direction of Peter... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Goodman - Jim Broadbent Director(s): Peter Hewitt DVD Release Date: Released the 05 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This 1995 family film tries to put a fun spin on the story of a paranormalist and widower (Bill Pullman) who moves into a new house with his daughter (Christina Ricci) and meets up with the ghost of a dead little boy. Based on the comic book about Casper the friendly ghost, the film is a dreary series of awkward interactions between live actors and computer effects, and you can almost see Pullman and Ricci reconsidering the project while on camera. A few cameo appearances from uncredited stars help things a bit. But there's no way, based on this film, that one could have guessed that its director, Brad Silberling, would go on to make the exceptional drama City of Angels. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bill Pullman - Christina Ricci - Cathy Moriarty - Eric Idle Director(s): Brad Silberling DVD Release Date: Released the 23 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Hank Ketcham comic strip about a mischievous boy named Dennis Mitchell (Mason Gamble) becomes a film directed by Nick Castle (The Last Starfighter) based on a weak script by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club). Gamble is fine and Walter Matthau is persuasive as the grouchy neighbor Mr. Wilson, but Hughes spoils everything by throwing in a formulaic subplot about a criminal (Christopher Lloyd) who doesn't know what he's getting into by abducting Dennis. Been there, done that. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Walter Matthau - Mason Gamble Director(s): Nick Castle DVD Release Date: Released the 28 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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