Mousehunt

Mousehunt

What might have been a one-note family comedy becomes something more thanks to the comic brilliance of costars Nathan Lane and Lee Evans, as well as the distinctive, dark-fable look given the film by a little-known director named Gore Verbinksi. (Could he be the next Tim Burton?) Lane and Evans play idiotic brothers who inherit a house and all but destroy it in pursuit of one small, pesky mouse. The guys are always the butt of the sight gags--most of which are very funny--but their considerable powers as slapstick artists are also at play. The climactic scene at an auction was the funniest scene in any American movie in 1997, the year of Mouse Hunt's release. --Tom Keogh

Genre: Comedy, Family
Director(s): Gore Verbinski
Production: Dreamworks
  2 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
54
Rotten Tomatoes:
42%
PG
Year:
1997
99
2,176 Views
The funniest movie of the year!
Who's hunting who?
The Mouse Never Dies
The squeak shall inherit the earth.
You don't need to be big to be a hero.

[Lars and Ernie are at the animal shelter in search of a suitable mouse-hunting cat.]

Maury, the Handler:
Find the one you want, and I'll spay or neuter it myself.

Lars:
Well, these are all kittens. We were hoping for an older cat, one with experience.

Maury, the Handler:
That's a switch. Most people want the cute little ones. Experience with what?

Ernie:
Mouse-hunting.

Maury, the Handler:
Oh, all cats are good mousers.

Ernie:
Yes, but you see, we have huge rats, the size of sumo wrestlers, and lots of them, so we really need a ferocious feline, preferably with a history of mental illness. I'm talking... one mean p*ssy.

Lars:
Yeah! A vicious cat, difficult to love. You have any of those knocking around your cages?

Maury, the Handler:
Funny you should ask. I'd given up hope on anyone wanting him. We were about to... gas him again.

Ernie & Lars:
Again?

[Maury leads the brothers to a chained-and-padlocked crate.]

Maury:
He's spent most of his life in that box, I expect...

[Ernie reads a tag tied to the crate] "Catzilla"?

Maury:
Oh, you know the guys who clean up call him that, but you can call him anything you want. I'd say he looks more like a "Fluffy."

[Lars leans down] Aw, poor little Catzilla. You want a home, don't you? You want to get out of here. Well, you're gonna have to kill, kill, kill for it!

Ernie:
You're a stupid cat, aren't you? Yes, you are! And you're ugly, too, extremely ug...

[The cat lunges, until Maury subdues him with a taser.]

[Lars sees his ripped coat sleeve] Oh, you little bastard!

Ernie:
We'll take him!

[After hearing ZeppCo's message about Ernie's proposal with them...]

Lars:
Betrayed by my own brother.

Ernie:
Betrayal? Don't talk to me about betrayal! You should have told me about that offer! Half that factory is mine!

Lars:
And half is mi... And half is mine, including the half that you tried to sell!

Ernie:
Yeah, and it would have, if it hadn't been for that stinking bus!

Lars:
Bus? You can't leave well enough alone, can you? You ruin everything!

Ernie:
Me? You blame me for this?

Lars:
Well, look! [He points to the big hole caused from the bug bomb.] You blew a hole in the floor!

Ernie:
Well, I distinctly remember somebody yelling "Shoot, shoot!"

Lars:
Well, you've never listened to me before!

Ernie:
And you know why?

Lars:
Why?

Ernie:
Because I have no respect for you! Spending your whole life in that stupid factory! It's tragic.

Lars:
You think I didn't have other things I wanted to do with my life? You think I didn't have ambitions of my own?

Ernie:
Oh, come on, you love string.

Lars:
I didn't love string.

Ernie:
Well, you could have fooled me. You and Pop were always huddled together running some piece of something through your fingers. It didn't matter what I did, I didn't even exist! I made him my special rack of lamb for is 70th birthday.

[Lars sighs in resignation] Oh, no.

Ernie:
Yes, you remember! I slaved over that meal, making sure everything was perfect! Did he say, "Thanks, Ernie, it was delicious"? No. He only noticed the string I had tied it with. [He sighs.] He was crazy. But I still wanted his approval. I didn't leave, Lars. I was cast out.

Lars:
There you go again. Blaming everything else but yourself. You think you're a success. Huh? Well, you... [He points at Ernie] ...can't... cook!

Ernie:
I hate you!

Lars:
And I hate you!

Ernie:
Not as much as I hate you!

Lars:
Yeah?!

Ernie:
Yeah, double! Double!

[People gather at Chez Ernie as they greet Mayor McKrinkle, his wife, and kids, who enter a restaurant called Chez Ernie]

Reporters:
[chattering]

Leslie:
Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor, over here! Mr. Mayor! Do you think your recent triple heart bypass affect your campaign strategy?

Mayor McKrinkle:
Now, Leslie, I'm just here to eat.

Mayor and his family enter the restaurant

Ernie:
[French accent] Ah, monsieur le maire, Madame maire, welcome to Chez Ernie. What an honour it is to have you in my humble bistro. Suivez-moi. You brought the little ones. The little bicycle thieves. Bonjour! Our very best table. Have you lost little weight?

Mayor McKrinkle:
Oh, I--

Ernie:
I think so! I think you may be buff! Je suisse enchante pour votre beaute. You know what I mean?

The Mayor's Wife:
Oh, Monsieur Ernie... [chuckles]

Ernie:
Excusez-moi. Au revoir, les enfants! [enters the kitchen to cook the lobster loaf and sighs] The air's not so thin at the top. Just like the old man to die before I hit it big. [unaware of this, however, a cockroach, which is in Ernie's father's box of cubans, opens the lid, and scurries toward the food] Remember, everyone. Attention to detail is vital! Presentation is everything. [stops the waiter] No, no, no, no, no! These I must deliver myself. [puts a fire on Duck a l'orange, brings all of the food and places on the table] Duck a I'Orange avec du quack sauce... And for ze Mayor, la specialite de la maison, Lobster Loaf a la Ernest ou la bibliotheque. Bon Appetit.

Mayor McKrinkle:
Oh. [exhales]

Ernie:
Ah, bonjour!

Leslie:
Chef Ernie. How does it feel to be serving the mayor on the eve of his campaign reelection?

Ernie:
Well, Leslie... May I call you Leslie?

Leslie:
Ah, of course.

Mayor McKrinkle:
[eats the lobster loaf almond without noticing the cockroach in his food by mistakenly biting his head off] Crunchy! Hmm. I love the almonds.

Ernie:
Leslie, cuisine, she is a fickle mistress...

Becky:
[notices the cockroach's body, disgusted] EW! Look! [picks up a cockroach's body] A cockroach!

[All the reporters, shocked, go to the family table]

Betty:
That's only half a cockroach.

Becky:
Daddy, you ate the head! [realizing what he just ate, the mayor starts to feel sick, and freaks off, because he accidentally bit the cockroach's head off, because he hasn't seen the cockroach in his food]

The Mayor's Wife:
[clutches the mayor's shoulder, concerned] Honey, are you OK? [the mayor immediately vomits his food on the table and spits the cockroach's head out as well, causing him to clean the puke off. The cockroach's head crawls out of the mayor's vomit, because he inadvertentaly bit the cockroach's head off. Becky and Betty grab knives, and start trying to stab the cockroach's head, which crawls away to avoid getting caught, otherwise he'd get killed for poisoining the mayor. The mayor coughs while clutching his chest in agony, then collapses to the floor, screaming, and falling over unconscious, due to this shock causing him to have a heart attack, much to his wife's shock, just as she screams in terror] Not again!

Reporters:
Was this an accident or murder...? [Ernie just stands there, looking quite traumatized, as the reporters now crowd around him, demanding to know if he intended to murder the mayor or it was an accident]

[The paramedics put the mayor in the hospital truck ambulance, and try vainly to revive him, but fail. As they try again, the kids play outside, and much to Ernie's sorrow, the restaurant closes]

Paramedic:
Clear!

Becky:
I can do that better!

The Mayor's Wife:
[crying, blubbering]


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