The Pest (1997 film)
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| The Pest | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Pest |
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| Directed by | Paul Miller |
| Produced by | Bill Sheinberg Jonathan Sheinberg Sid Sheinberg |
| Written by | David Bar Katz & John Leguizamo (story) David Bar Katz (screenplay) |
| Starring | John Leguizamo Jeffrey Jones Edoardo Ballerini Freddy Rodríguez Tammy Townsend Joe Morton |
| Music by | Kevin Kiner |
| Cinematography | Roy H. Wagner |
| Editing by | Ross Albert David Rawlins |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 9, 1997 (USA) |
| Running time | 84 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $3,506,206 (USA) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Pest is a 1997 comedy film based on the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game". In it, comedian John Leguizamo plays a Latino con man in Miami, Florida named Pestario Vargas (also known as "Pest") who agrees to be the human target for a Neo-Nazi manhunter, in order to collect $50,000 if he survives. It is the only feature directed by Paul Miller. It is considered to be a box office, critical and artistic failure.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- John Leguizamo — Pestario 'Pest' Vargas
- Jeffrey Jones — Gustav Shank
- Edoardo Ballerini — Himmel Shank
- Freddy Rodríguez — Bruce "Ninja"
- Tammy Townsend — Xantha Kent
- Aries Spears — Chubby
- Joe Morton — Mr. Kent
- Charles Hallahan — Angus
- Tom McCleister — Leo
- Ivonne Coll — Gladyz
- Pat Skipper — Glen Livitt
- Jorge Luis Abreu — Piercer
- Jennifer Broughton — Bank Employee
- Yau-Gene Chan — Cook
- Judyann Elder — Mrs. Kent
- Paul Harris — Karaoke Singer
- Joe Jokubeit — Laphroig
- David Bar Katz — White Guy
- Will Potter — White Guy
- Les Lannom — Bagpipe Player
- Jim Lau — Mr. Cheung
- Barrie Mizerski — Host
- Hugh Murphy — Emcee
- Kristin Norton — Trixy
- Ray Garaza — Puerto Rican Boy
- Yelba Osorio — Malaria
- Tony Perez — Felix
- Aviva Rosenbloom — Cantor
- Julian Scott Urena — Sergio
- John Herschel - John Herschel
[edit] Critical response
The film is considered to be a critical dud. Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 11%. While Jeff Millar of the Houston Chronicle ops "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 Magazine said that "The script and Leguizamo's talents don't mesh, so the actor comes off as more offensive than funny." Madeleine Williams of Cinematter calls the film "a revoltingly bad stinker that is easily in the running for the worst film of the decade."
[edit] Audience response
The film grossed a meager $4 million dollars, losing $13 million from the film's original $17 million budget. In recent years, the film has become somewhat of a cult classic on home video and DVD thanks to word of mouth and video rentals. On the Internet Movie Database, the film has an overall rating of 4.2/10 with 3,021 votes. Director Paul Miller provided an audio commentary track for the film's 2001 DVD release.
[edit] External links
- The Pest at the Internet Movie Database
- The Pest at the Rotten Tomatoes
