Film Forum

U.S., 1997
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Written by Adam Rifkin
Starring Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Maury Chaykin, Christopher Walken
Approx. 98 min.

“The Smuntz brothers, Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (Lee Evans), inherit an antiquated string factory from their string-magnate father. This is classic string, mind you: lengths of rough twine twisted into scratchy balls. But today's world prefers cord: nice, clean, nylon cord. The plant's a money-losing cesspool, filled with shuffling, inefficient workers. Also left to Lars and Ernie is a claptrap mansion whose only saving grace is that it was designed by the famed architect LaRue. If Lars and Ernie can fix up the place, they can auction it off and make a fortune.The only thing standing in their way is a tiny rodent who's smarter than both of them. The whole movie is a Rube Goldberg contraption, a windup toy that careens from scene to scene as the stakes are raised and more powerful mouse-eliminating weapons are employed.” – The Washington Post

Reviews

“The year's best performance by an actor with twitchy whiskers!”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Nathan Lane mixes sharp tongued sarcasm and self satisfied fussiness to create a character who echoes Oliver Hardy and, occasionally, Groucho Marx.”
 – Variety