Overall Rating Awesome: 26.67% Worth A Look: 3.33% Average: 20% Pretty Bad: 40% Total Crap: 10% 2 reviews, 18 user ratings

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Mouse Hunt

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by Ryan Arthur

"Bill Hickey's last movie. Kinda sad, really."

A retread of Home Alone, with Macauley Culkin replaced by a rodent.

Seriously. Two bunglers (in this case, Nathan Lane and Lee Evans) try to lay claim to a home, inhabited by a resourceful mouse (played, equally, by live mice, animatronic mice and computer generated mice).

The bunglers try and trap, kill and otherwise rid themselves of the mouse so they can sell the house left to them by their father (the great William Hickey), who was in the string business. Of course, the mouse continually outsmarts the two brothers, who are the unwitting victims of their own traps and badly laid plans. Slapstick wackiness abounds.

Funny, right?

Uh-uh.

Nathan Lane can be incredibly gifted as a comic (see The Birdcage) or he can be positively horrible (see the eyesore known as Encore! Encore! on NBC, but do so at your own risk). But he deserves better than playing second fiddle to a CG mouse. Likewise for Lee Evans (who had a much better role - and gave a much better performance - as one of the would-be suitors to Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary). Mouse Hunt is a mishmash of occasionally neat setups with no real payoff. You see the jokes and you know exactly where they're headed, so maybe that's precisely why you don't find them funny.

The stunt casting of Christopher Walken is amusing at first, then you realize it's just Christopher Walken doing bored Christopher Walken. It's like he's imitating himself. Badly.

It's been done before, and it's been done better. Kids may dig on the pratfalls and slapstick, but it's basically an empty film.

Skip it. Or watch until Hickey's character croaks, then rewind.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=454&reviewer=7
originally posted: 12/31/98 14:39:35

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User Comments

4/26/16 Ken Ugly and pretty stupid 2 stars

12/11/13 PAUL SHORTT FUNNY, CLEVER, SLICK SLAPSTICK COMEDY 4 stars

6/19/09 Jeff Wilder Amusing. But overdoes it with the board in the crotch humor. 3 stars

6/28/06 joe koski home alone is better but the fun is good 2 stars

11/22/03 jack mice eat cheese and pubic hair 2 stars

10/18/03 R.W. Welch Not a bad little fun movie. Several humorous bits. 3 stars

9/13/03 Gray pure fun with a unique ending 5 stars

5/03/03 Jackson62 I wanted to slaughter the mouse. Not good for a cute animal movie. 1 stars

10/29/02 Charles Tatum Nathan Lane is hilarious 5 stars

11/23/01 Andrew Carden The Mouse Was Cute, but The Movie Was Ugly. 2 stars

4/10/01 Gary This was a really boring movie but it was kindof funny. 3 stars

11/29/00 The Evil Penguin Pretty hilarious but kinda boring. 3 stars

4/02/00 LucyB Long and boring for adults and some parts scary for very young kids. Just terrible. 1 stars

3/11/99 Bats Got to see it free, and definitely got my money's worth. 2 stars

10/01/98 katherine this bored every little kid ive met. 2 stars

9/26/98 MR HOLLYWOOD!! Nathan Lane is funny,Mouse is annoying and Movie tooo short without being sweet,BUT....... 3 stars

9/26/98 Maegs Had some funny parts, and Nathan Lane is always committed, but it was tiresome in places. 3 stars

8/25/98 Mister Whoopee John Hughes is poison. No more Breakfast Club, hello kiddie crap. 1 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
Note: Duplicate, 'planted,' or other obviously improper comments
will be deleted at our discretion. So don't bother posting 'em. Thanks!

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USA 19-Dec-1997 (PG) UK N/A Australia 01-Jan-1998 (G)

Directed by Gore Verbinski Written by Adam Rifkin Cast Nathan Lane Lee Evans Vicki Lewis Maury Chaykin Eric Christmas Michael Jeter

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