Main Cast: John Leguizamo, Jeffrey Jones, Edoardo Ballerini, Freddy Rodriguez, Tammy Townsend
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 82 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A man discovers the lighter side of being hunted down like an animal in this manic comedy. Pestario "Pest" Vargas (John Leguizamo) is a low-rent con man from Miami's South Beach who has fallen deeply in debt to ill-tempered members of the Scottish mafia (complete with kilts). Desperate to raise $50,000 to stave off having his legs broken (and possibly turned into haggis), Vargas takes an offer for a very high paying one day job from Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones), a German businessman visiting Florida. However, it's not until later that Vargas finds out what Shank has in mind. The lunatic white supremacist Shank transports Vargas to his island compound, Little Germany, and announces that he will hunt him as wild game. If Vargas can survive for 24 hours, he gets the cash; otherwise, his head will join the others stuffed and mounted on Shank's wall. Can Vargas' speed, agility, and gift for cheesy impersonations save him now? John Leguizamo co-wrote The Pest's original story, loosely based on the classic adventure tale The Most Dangerous Game. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Suzette Ervin - Art Director, Wendy Kutzman - Casting, John Leguizamo - Co-producer, David Bar Katz - Co-producer, Tom McKinley - Costume Designer, Bradley M. Gross - First Assistant Director, Paul Miller - Director, Ross Albert - Editor, David Rawlins - Editor, Robert A. Papazian - Executive Producer, Kevin Kiner - Songwriter, Rodger Maus - Production Designer, Roy H. Wagner - Cinematographer, Jonathan Sheinberg - Producer, Bill Sheinberg - Producer, Sid Sheinberg - Producer, Sid Jon - Producer, Jim Duffy - Set Designer, Ray Markham - Set Designer, Carole L. Cole - Set Designer, Mark Ulano - Sound/Sound Designer, John Leguizamo - Screen Story, David Bar Katz - Screen Story, John Leguizamo - Screenwriter, David Bar Katz - Screenwriter
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 Miller 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."
Audience response
The film grossed $4 million dollars, losing $13 million. 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 4.3/10 with 4,030 votes. Director Paul Miller provided an audio commentary track for the film's 2001 DVD release. The film was rated PG-13 for crude sexual, scatological and ethnic humor.
