Gore Verbinski's Mouse Hunt is a comfort movie for me. I find myself revisiting it during times of stress or hardships, and it always has me laughing and feeling better. It's an overlooked classic in my opinion. Implausible? Yes. Silly? Oh yeah. But this is the movies guys, it's where we go to escape. And this one is an hour and a half of pure joy. Nathan Lane and Lee Evans are stellar as Lars and Ernie Smuntz, two bumbling brothers with an unmissable kinship to Laurel and Hardy, who fall on hard times financially. When they inherent a spooky old mansion in the sticks, life begins to look up as it seems the estate is still worth a tidy sum. There one problem: the house has a tiny, belligerent resident, a cute little mouse who is faster, smarter and more resourceful than them, and damn impossible to get rid of. From there the movie takes off in a funhouse of slapstick pratfalls, brilliant physical comedy, cartoonish and imaginative set pieces, and a sense of humour that's playful, yet ever so subtly not appropriate for kids. Verbinski is one of my favourite directors, with a very diverse filmography. He a.ways has a great sense of spectacle and action, winning us over with fluid, funny, balanced sequences of cinematic satisfaction (Pirates Of The Caribbean, Rango). The 1940's setting adds a cool twist and almost feels like a silent film type aesthetic at times. The supporting cast is speckled with knowing comic turns from various characters actors: Maury Chaykin eats the scenery, and everything in sight as a real estate debonair, William Hickey makes a ghostly cameo as the brothers father, and literally looks like he's on his death bed for real! When they inevitably call an exterminator, he's a wacky loony toon played but Christopher Walken because of course. Walken is time capsule gold as Cesar, bringing his well known loopy side to the short but sweet role. I don't get the negativity for this one. It's fun, beautifully crafted, great for kids but with a subversive, wink nudge bit of fun for the adults too, and made with an undeniable love for the screwball comedy, and cinema itself. Check it out.
Review of Mousehunt
