MOUSE HUNT
US, 1998, 97 minutes, Colour.
Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Vicki Lewis, Eric Christmas, Christopher Walken, William Hickey.
Directed by Gore Verbinski.
What if a film were made based on Tom and Jerry except that it is not a cartoon and that, while the mouse is played by mice stars, the cat is played by two comics, Nathan Lane and Lee Evans, as two brothers who are trying to renovate an old dark house unexpectedly left them by their string tycoon father and who are thwarted at every step, and more, by a recalcitrant mouse? And what if the techno-expert mouse exterminator were played by gangster-expert Christopher Walken? And what if it all worked in a slapstick, Three Stooges kind of way? Well, you would have Mouse Hunt. Lots of visual gags, some clever dialogue and Lane and Evans facing the challenge to share screen time and attention with the mouse.
1.A live action version of a comedy cartoon, the Tom and Jerry vein, the brothers and the mouse? Live action as cartoon?
2.The title, audience and their response to mice, pests, cats, pest control, chasing mice?
3.The factory and its old-fashioned style, the dingy house, the snow and the ice, the special effects, the chases and stunts, mayhem? The jaunty score?
4.The slapstick comedy, cartoonish, the parody of human behaviour? The opening funeral, the propelling of the corpse of the father? The manhole? The cockroach in the mayor’s dinner? The mouse and the mousetraps, the hose, the mouse in the piano, the sauna and its going into the ice and under the ice, the monstrous cat, Caesar and his techniques for eliminating pests, Ernie and his being knocked over by the car, the destruction of the interior of the house, the water climax?
5.The brothers and their lives, their relationship with their father, Lars devoted, Ernie offhand, the flashback and Ernie’s disinterest? The will and the reading, their reactions? The bequest of the factory, of the piece of string which was so important? The old house? Ernie as a chef, his French accent, the guests, the mayor, his delight in cooking, the cockroaches, the mayor and his death, the reporters? Lars, working in the factory, his relationship with April, her walking out on him? The nylon people coming to buy the factory – and Lars contemplating the piece of string and refusing to sell?
6.Out of money, the house, the plans, the information about the house, the secret room, its being a treasure? The millionaire and his arrogance, wanting the house, wanting to buy? The mouse in the house? The exasperation of the brothers? The plan to auction?
7.Caesar, his personality, his equipment, his tactics with the mouse, his failure?
8.April, the information about the auction, giving the money? Her finally walking out with the Texan?
9.The mouse, its personality, the tantrums and tricks, the traps, the hole, the hose, avoiding all the issues, looking at the brothers? Being hit, in the box, posted to Cuba, returned?
10.The auction, Lars indicating to Ernie during his speech? The auction-master persevering with the high bids despite everything? The mouse, the water, the fiasco?
11.The models, their hairdo and string? The jokes with the mouse?
12.The visit to the factory, the production of cheese – and the changing of production, the varieties of cheese, the mouse being the chief taster and adviser? The happy ending?
