Mousehunt

Two stumblebum inheritors are determined to rid their antique house of a mouse who is equally determined to stay where he is.

• Director:Gore Verbinski
• Genre:Action / Comedy / Family
• Runtime:94 minutes

Cast

Nathan Lane : Ernest “Ernie” Smuntz
Lee Evans : Lars Smuntz
Vicki Lewis : April Smuntz
Maury Chaykin : Alexander Falko
Eric Christmas : Ernie and Lars’ Lawyer

Lars (Lee Evans) and Ernie (Nathan Lane) Smuntz are two hapless brothers, and sons of wealthy string manufacturer Rudolf Smuntz (William Hickey). Pop, as they called him, dies, leaving them his outdated string factory and a handful of personal items including a box of cigars, which Ernie quickly takes, and the deed to an old mansion with a bank debt. Later that day, a couple of representatives from company called Zeppco International offers to buy the factory from Lars. Lars then remembers he and his brother, after being given a lucky piece of string, had promised their dying father to never sell the factory. He declines the offer (without first telling Ernie) but accepts a business card from the Zeppco representatives. That night, his wife April (Vicki Lewis) discovers this and throws him out in a rage. Meanwhile, Ernie, who never cared for his father’s business, serves Mayor McKinkle (Cliff Emmich) at his restaurant Chez Ernie. A cockroach crawls out of the box of cigars into one of the dishes. Mayor McKinkle accidentally eats it and later dies of a heart attack in the hospital. Due to the publicity, Ernie loses his restaurant and home. He meets Lars in a diner, where they reconcile and decide to investigate the old mansion, since both of them have nowhere else to live.

They find the house to be “… just like him: cold and spooky”. Their first night in the only bed there is a noise, which they attribute to a mouse that they find in the attic. They also find the mansion’s blueprints, which show that it was built in 1876 by a famous architect, Charles Lyle LaRue, and was the final house he built. Prior to the discovery of the blueprints, the house’s existence was considered a rumor. this results in the house being dubbed “The Missing LaRue”. The find attracts immediate interest, including a collector of LaRue items, Alexander Falko (Maury Chaykin), who offers to buy the mansion right then for $10 million. However, Ernie greedily convinces Lars that they can make more money if they restore it and then auction it off.

April reconciles with Lars and finances the restoration. The brothers begin renovating, which destroys the mouse’s home behind a wall. The mouse subsequently sabotages their efforts, invoking numerous attempts by them to kill it, which injure only themselves and coincidentally destroy prominent portions of the house. They cover the floor with mousetraps, which the mouse triggers with a cherry. They try to trap it up with a vacuum cleaner, but the nozzle gets stuck in a sewage pipe, causing the vacuum cleaner bag to explode. They acquire a deranged cat nicknamed Catzilla from the Cat Care Society Owner named Maurey (Ernie Sabella). The mouse tricks Catzilla into falling down a Dumbwaiter shaft. Finally, they hire an eccentric pest-control expert named Caesar (Christopher Walken). Read more

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