''The Pest'' is a 1997 American
black comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...
inspired by the classic 1924
Richard Connell
Richard Edward Connell Jr. (October 17, 1893 – November 22, 1949) was an American author and journalist. He is best remembered for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924). Connell was one of the most popular American short story wr ...
short story "
The Most Dangerous Game
"The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...
". Comedian
John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...
plays a
Puerto Rican con artist
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
named Pestario Rivera Garcia Picante Salsa Vargas (also known as "Pest") who agrees to be the human target for a German
manhunt
Manhunt may refer to:
Search processes
* Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive
* Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies
Social organisations
* Manhun ...
er for a US$50,000 reward.
Plot
Puerto Rican con artist Pestario “Pest” Vargas owes $50,000 to the Scottish mob, led by Angus, who is eager to exact revenge against Pest so that the Scottish mob will finally be feared. Pest, along with his friends Ninja and Chubby, perform a scam at a festival. While there, Pest promises his girlfriend Xantha Kent he will have dinner with her and her parents.
Racist German hunter Gustav Shank, who desires to hunt the warriors of different nationalities, decides to hunt an athlete. His servant mistakenly believes Shank has decided to hunt Pest and brings Pest to Shank, who decides to hunt Pest anyway due to how irritating he is. Shank tricks Pest into allowing himself to be hunted, but despite the warnings from Shank's weirdly effeminate son Himmel in regards to what he has gotten himself into, Pest decides to participate anyway, since he will get a $50,000 reward if he survives. As Pest is brought to Shank's private island, Pest is supplied with a tiny gun and runs off into the jungle.
Pest convinces Himmel to get him off the island, and both escape in Shank's boat. Himmel and Pest are attacked by seagulls, and Pest swims to shore, meeting up with Chubby and Ninja at a pool party. Shank arrives in a helicopter and Pest, Chubby, and Ninja flee. Pest goes to Xantha's house for the dinner, only for a tracking device Shank has attached to him to explode. Shank arrives and goes after Pest, only to inadvertently tranquilize Xantha's father, Himmel, and Ninja.
Pest and Chubby hide in a nightclub. Shank once again attacks Pest, only for Pest to cover Shank in a pheromone that results in him being swarmed by horny men. Pest and Chubby reunite with Ninja, only for them to be shoved into a car with Angus, who has been convinced by Shank that Pest is trying to skip town; Angus takes Ninja as collateral to ensure Pest pays his debts. Shank reveals he has kidnapped Pest's family and Xantha and her family, and has them on board a large boat. Pest and Chubby outwit Shank and free the captives. Shank reveals he had poisoned a drink Pest had drunk, and tells Pest how to find his reward to taunt him; Pest collapses, seemingly succumbing to the poison. The next day, Shank discovers his money has been stolen by Pest, who had vomited the poison out due to getting seasick while escaping the island. Pest has also revealed Shank's crimes to the authorities. Shank is dragged away by several police officers, while Pest,
Chubby, Ninja, Himmel, and Xantha drive off with Shank's money.
Cast
*
John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...
as Pestario 'Pest' Vargas
*
Jeffrey Jones
Jeffrey Duncan Jones (born September 28, 1946) is an American character actor, best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in '' Amadeus'' (1984), Edward R. Rooney in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), Charles Deetz in ''Beetlejuice'' (1988 ...
as Gustav Shank
*
Edoardo Ballerini
Edoardo Ballerini (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor, narrator, writer, and film director. On screen he is best known for his work as junkie Corky Caporale in ''The Sopranos'' and the hotheaded chef in the indie film '' Dinner Rush'' (2 ...
as Himmel Shank
*
Freddy Rodríguez as Bruce "Ninja"
*
Tammy Townsend
Tamara A. Townsend (born August 17, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Townsend is best known for her roles as Wendy Reardon on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' (1994–96), and Greta McClure, Eddie's girlfriend on the AB ...
as Xantha Kent
*
Aries Spears as Chubby
*
Charles Hallahan
Charles John Hallahan (July 29, 1943 – November 25, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor known for his performances in ''Going in Style'', '' The Thing'', '' Cast a Deadly Spell'', and ''Dante's Peak''. He was also best know ...
as Angus
*
Tom McCleister
Thomas McCleister (born May 26, 1949, New York City) is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Ike on '' Married... with Children''. McCleister also played the part of Kolos on the series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', ap ...
as Leo
*
Joe Morton
Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Oth ...
as Mr. Kent
*
Ivonne Coll
Ivonne Coll Mendoza (born June 18, 1947) is a Puerto Rican actress. She was Miss Puerto Rico in 1967 and competed in the Miss Universe pageant the same year. She later became an actress, appearing in films such as ''The Godfather Part II'' and ' ...
as Gladyz
*
Pat Skipper
William Patterson "Pat" Skipper (born September 23, 1958) is an American television actor, film actor and voice actor. Pat is probably best known for his television work on such shows as ''The X-Files'' and '' Boston Legal''. On film, he played ...
as Glen Livitt
Production
Production of the film was announced by TriStar Pictures and The Bubble Factory alongside ''
Slappy and the Stinkers
''Slappy and the Stinkers'' is a 1998 American direct-to-video family adventure comedy film directed by Barnet Kellman. The film stars B. D. Wong and Bronson Pinchot. Its plot concerns a group of children who try to save an abused sea lion from ...
'' as two projects the companies would produce. Under the terms of a contract between The Bubble Factory and
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, the production company could automatically greenlight three to four pictures – budgeted at about $8 million to $35 million each – per year for Universal to distribute. Both this film and ''Slappy and the Stinkers'' fell below Universal's threshold and became a
first-look pact. Sony fully financed both films.
Reception
Critical response
Jeff Millar
Jeffery Lynn Millar (July 10, 1942 – November 30, 2012) was an American comic strip writer and film critic
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categ ...
of the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...
'' wrote that "This film is utterly without discipline or focus in a way that—to one's shame—one eventually finds oddly endearing". Dwayne E. Leslie of ''
Boxoffice
''Boxoffice Pro'' is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by BoxOffice Media LP.
History
It started in 1920 as ''The Reel Journal'', taking the name ''Boxoffice'' in 1931 and still publishes today, with ...
'' magazine said that "The script and Leguizamo's talents don't mesh, so the actor comes off as more offensive than funny." Bill Hoffman of ''
The New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' gave the comedy three and half out of five stars. Mick LaSalle of ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' said of Leguizamo's performance "Obviously, someone must have told Leguizamo he's a comic genius. Whoever did that wasn't a good friend."
Ken Fox of ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' gave the film 1.5 out of 4, and wrote: "Even surrounded by unbearable sloppiness, Leguizamo is fascinating to watch."
The film holds a 4% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 2.9/10. The critic's consensus states: "''The Pest'' aims for zany comedy with social commentary, misses, and lands squarely at offensive misfire thanks to John Leguizamo's over-caffeinated performance and a script laden with stereotypes." Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Leguizamo was nominated for Worst Actor for his performance in the film at the
1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to
Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to:
* Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor
* Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide
* Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer
* Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), ...
for ''
McHale's Navy
''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originate ...
''.
Box office
''The Pest'' was a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
. The film came in at #12 in its opening weekend at the box office, with a gross of $1.8 million from 1,205 theaters. The film grossed a total of $3.6 million against an estimated budget of $8 million.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pest, The
1997 films
American comedy films
1997 comedy films
Films set in Miami
Films shot in Miami
TriStar Pictures films
Films about death games
1997 directorial debut films
Films scored by Kevin Kiner
1990s American films