MouseHunt **** (1997, Lee Evans, Nathan Lane, Christopher Walken) – Classic Movie Review 1649

Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski’s 1997 farcical comedy is a total hoot, with a highly amusing and inventive screenplay by Alan Rifkin.

Lee Evans and Nathan Lane are well cast as daft brothers who inherit a decrepit mansion, but find that it’s occupied by a tenacious mouse who has no intention of packing his bags and going away. (We’ve all been there). Then it’s two grown men versus one teeny, weeny mouse, which naturally proves no contest – for the mouse!

The two stars give extremely skilled slapstick comedy turns that produce a lot of richly satisfying laughs, though they’re often upstaged by the wily rodent, a ferocious feline and of course pesky scene-stealer Christopher Walken as a deranged exterminator.

Even if the humour is very dark (or perhaps because of it) and most of the biggest laughs are in the film’s first half, this is funny, sometimes hilarious stuff that’s guaranteed to bring the house down.

Maury Chaykin, Eric Christmas, Michael Jeter, Debra Christofferson, Camilla Soeberg, William Hickey and Vicki Lewis co-star.

The effective special effects are by Charles Gibson and Stan Winston, while cinematographer Phedon Papamichael ensures this is a polished-looking movie.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1649

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