Mouse Hunt

''Mouse Hunt'' is a 1997 American slapstick black comedy film written by Adam Rifkin and directed by Gore Verbinski in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Maury Chaykin, and Christopher Walken. The film follows two Laurel and Hardy-like brothers in their struggle against one small but crafty house mouse for possession of a mansion which was willed to them by their father. While the film is set in the late 20th century, styles range humorously from the 1940s to the 1990s.

It was the first family film to be released by DreamWorks Pictures, who released it in the United States on December 19, 1997, to mixed reviews, but was a commercial success, earning $125.4 million on the box office against a budget of $38 million.

''Mouse Hunt'' features one of William Hickey's final roles. The film was dedicated to his memory.

Plot

The late string magnate Rudolf Smuntz dies, bequeathing his finacially cash-strapped factory and a dilapidated Victorian mansion to his sons Ernie and Lars. Following the will reading, both brothers suffer setbacks in their lives - Ernie, who shunned the family business to become a chef, loses his restaurant when a cockroach hidden in a box of cigars he took causes the local mayor to suffer a fatal heartattack; while Lars is kicked out of his house by his greedy wife April, after he honored a promise to his late father to refuse to let a rival company, Zeppco International, buyout Smutz String. Both reunite in a diner, and learn of the other's misfortune, leading them to spend the night in the mansion they inherited.

The brothers find themselves unable to sleep because of a mouse making noise, but in trying to catch it, they discover blueprints of the property. Through these, they learn the mansion is a fabled final design by the architect Charles Lyle LaRue, and would be worth a fortune if restored. Although they agree to auction the mansion to recover their lives, Ernie spots the mouse and informs Lars they must get rid of it, fearing a repeat of the cockroach incident. Several attempts are made, including using a vicious cat and hiring an exterminator, but the brothers discover the mouse is unusually intelligent, outwitting the pair and causing them mischief for forcing it out of its home.

Their situation becomes further complicated when the bank threatens to repossess the mansion, unless they pay off the mortgage on it that Ernie used to provide them funds. After the factory workers go on strike upon learning they can't be paid, and Lars attempts to run operations on his own, Ernie goes behind his back to secretly meet the Zeppco representatives over their buyout offer upon finding the business card they left. The meeting fails to happen after he is hit by a bus while flirting with some women, but is surprised when Lars reveals April will provide the cash, having learnt of the brothers' recent discovery. The pair resume their efforts to catch the mouse, until Lars overhears a voicemail message from Zeppco, leading them to argue against each other. Their argument unwittingly leads to the mouse being stunned by an orange, whereupon the brothers decide to mail him in a box to Cuba to be rid of it.

Ernie and Lars reconcile, and finish renovating the house for auction. However, on the night it is to begin, Lars discovers the box had been mailed back due to insufficient postage, and that the mouse is back in the house. As the auction gets underway, the brothers attempt to flush the mouse out with a garden hose, but their actions cause the house to be flooded, washing everyone outside, before the mansion collapses. April mocks the pair, before leaving with a wealthy bidder, as the brothers leave for the factory having lost everything. The mouse, surviving the collapse, follows them, whereupon it takes pity on their situation and uses the factory machinery to convert a block of cheese into a ball of string cheese. Inspired, the brothers ally with the mouse, renovating the factory to produce string cheese and other products, and finding new joy in their lives.

Cast

* Nathan Lane as Ernie Smuntz, a man who refused heirdom to his father's string factory to become a chef.
* Lee Evans as Lars Smuntz, Ernie's brother and the heir to their father's string factory.
* Vicki Lewis as April Smuntz, Lars' gold-digging former wife.
* Maury Chaykin as Alexander Falko, a wealthy LaRue collector.
* William Hickey as Rudolf Smuntz, a string magnate and the late father of Ernie and Lars.
* Christopher Walken as Caesar, an odd and eccentric exterminator hired by the Smuntz brothers to rid them of the mouse.
* Eric Christmas as Ernie and Lars' lawyer.
** This was Christmas' final acting performance before he died in July 22, 2000.
* Michael Jeter as Quincy Thorpe, a LaRue historian.
* Camilla Soeberg as Hilde, a Belgian model.
* Debra Christofferson as Ingrid, a Belgian model.
* Ian Abercrombie as the auctioneer.
* Annabelle Gurwitch as Roxanne Atkins, a photographer.
* Eric Poppick as Theodore Plumb, the banker.
* Ernie Sabella as Maury, a worker at the cat shelter.
* Cliff Emmich as Mayor McKrinkle.
* Susan Blommaert as Ms. Park Avenue
* Carmen Filpi as Pallbearer #4
* Jack Angeles as Kennel Employee
* Thom Barry as a doctor (scenes deleted)
* Sarah Dampf as a crying girl

Release

''Mouse Hunt'' was released in North America on December 19, 1997 and opened in the #4 spot. The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 3, 1998, and opened at #2, behind '' Titanic''.

Home media

''Mouse Hunt'' was released on VHS on May 5, 1998, and DVD on December 8, 1998, by DreamWorks Home Entertainment. It was released on Blu-ray on February 2, 2021, by Paramount Home Entertainment.
A 4K Ultra HD release of the film will be released by Kino Lorber under license from Paramount in 2025.

Reception

Box office

The film was a box-office success, partially due to its release during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period. It grossed $6,062,922 in its opening weekend, averaging $2,817 from 2,152 theaters. In its second weekend, it stayed at #4 and increased by 60 percent, making $9,702,770, averaging $4,428 from 2,191 theaters, and bringing its 10-day gross to $21,505,569. In its third weekend, it once again stayed at #4 and dropped by only 13 percent, making $8,418,001, averaging $3,804 from 2,213 theaters, and bringing its 17-day gross to $40,021,527. It closed on July 1, 1998, with a final gross of $61,917,389 in the North American market and $60,500,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $122,417,389.

Critical response

''Mouse Hunt'' received mixed reviews from film critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 33 critics had given the film a positive review. The critics consensus reads: "''Mouse Hunt'' gets trapped under the weight of its excessive slapstick antics." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, calling it "not very funny, and maybe couldn't have been very funny no matter what, because the pieces for comedy are not in place... A comedy that hasn't assigned sympathy to some characters and made others hateful cannot expect to get many laughs, because the audience doesn't know who to laugh at, or with." His colleague Gene Siskel disagreed and liked the film.

Regarding the digital special effects, Ebert deemed the film "an excellent example of the way modern advances in special effects can sabotage a picture ('' Titanic'' is an example of effects being used wisely). Because it is possible to make a movie in which the mouse can do all sorts of clever things, the filmmakers have assumed incorrectly that it would be funny to see the mouse doing them."

See also

* List of American films of 1997

References

External links

official website
at the Wayback Machine (archived December 2, 1998)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouse Hunt
1997 films
1997 directorial debut films
1997 black comedy films
1997 children's films
American children's comedy films
American black comedy films
American screwball comedy films
American slapstick comedy films
Films about mice and rats
Films about cats
Films about death
Films about brothers
Films set in country houses
American films about revenge
Films directed by Gore Verbinski
Films scored by Alan Silvestri
DreamWorks Pictures films
Animal Logic films
1990s English-language films
Films produced by Bruce Cohen
1990s American films
English-language black comedy films