| Bilgi :Mouse Hunt is the cat s meow. Blending the graceful slapstick of Laurel and Hardy with the mock-Gothic visuals of The Adams Family, this often screamingly funny comedy about a resilient rodent has enough across-the-board appeal to click with audiences of all ages. Even though it faces stiff B.O.B.O. competition in the current holiday season demolition derby, pic could eke out enough coincoin to qualify for sleepersleeper status. Down the road, ancillary prospects are even rosier.
Nathan Lane and Lee Evans Funny Bones are ingeniously teamed as Ernie and Lars, estranged brothers reunited by the death of their aged father, string manufacturer Rudolph Smuntz the late William Hickey. Ernie, the cynical owner-operator of a pretentiously trendy eatery, wants to sell the old man's factory, a cavernous antique that appears to be a holdover from the earliest days of the Industrial RevolutionRevolution. But the far more sentimental Lars wants to preserve the family business, and swears fealty to his father's motto A world without string is chaos.
Unfortunately, Ernie loses his restaurant - and gains a great deal of notoriety - when his most famous customer, the city mayor, dies of a heart attack during a lavish meal. Just as unfortunately, Lars is booted out of his house by his shrewish wife Vicki Lewis, who can't understand why her husband won't accept a firm offer for the string factory.
So the two brothers must take advantage of another inheritance from their late father, a dilapidated mansion that's been vacant for several years. Shortly after they move in, they discover the place is an architectural masterpiece that may be worth millions. Trouble is, an incredibly crafty mouse has made the mansion his home. And he won't leave without a fight.
First-time featurefeature helmer Gore VerbinskiGore Verbinski - a commercial director best known for introducing the Budweiser frogs - does a nifty job of quickly establishing and skillfully sustaining a kind of fractured fairy-tale stylization. Mouse Hunt begins on a darkly humorous note, as the two bickering brothers inadvertently disrupt their father's funeral. |
