THE PEST

"THE PEST"
(1997) (John Leguizamo, Jeffrey Jones) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	*Heavy	Heavy	None	Moderate

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Heavy	None	None	None	Mild

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Mild	Minor	None	Moderate	Heavy

QUICK TAKE:: Comedy: A scam artist must elude a German hunter who’s literally after his head.

PLOT:: Pestario "Pest" Vargas (JOHN LEGUIZAMO) is a scam artist who hustles people for their money with buddies, Ninja (FREDDY RODRIGUEZ) and Chubby (ARIES SPEARS). While trying to elude Scottish mafioso, Angus, to whom he owes fifty thousand dollars, he’s spotted by Leo (TOM MCCLEISTER), the assistant to a "great white" German hunter, Gustav Shank (JEFFREY JONES). Leo and Gustav take Pest back to their jungle island where Gustav makes a deal with Pest. Gustav hunts humans and the only "species" whose head he hasn't collected is from a Latino. So he tells Pest that if he can survive a twenty-four-hour hunt, he’ll pay him the fifty thousand dollars. The hunt begins and Pest must contend not only with Gustav, but also with his effeminate, Aryan son, Himmel Shank (EDOARDO BALLERINI).

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they’re fans of Leguizamo or are in the "Beavis and Butt-head" fan legion, this film may appeal to them.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For crude sexual, scatalogical and ethnic humor.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: None of the characters, including ones played by JOHN LEGUIZAMO and JEFFREY JONES, are good role models.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 0 out of 10: This film earns the distinction of being the worst film of this year so far, and any other film will have to work mighty hard to take that honor away from this utterly useless piece of celluloid that claims to be a "movie." There are no redeeming values, the "comedy" isn’t funny, and it’s just really, really bad. Not only does it butcher the story of "The Most Dangerous Game," but it has enough crude material -- vomiting onto windows and other people’s faces, farting and other scatological sounds, and the sight of a sock after it’s been used to wipe one’s behind, etc... -- to gross out even the younger crowd that it so eagerly sets its sights on. And to show how desperate the film makers are, several characters in this debacle often imitate the Beavis and Butt-head cartoon characters and a young woman’s name is Malaria -- that we suppose is intended to be funny. Other "funny" events include Leguizamo being hit many times by tennis balls (Please, don’t go on), having runny bird poop land on a man’s face (I can’t stop laughing), or speeding up the film for exaggerated effects (Stop, my sides are hurting). Actually, your head will hurt if you see this inane piece of flotsam. We give it a big, fat 0 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: While we normally don’t tell parents what they should do, we’ll break that rule here. Keep your children away from this film. It doesn’t necessarily have extremely bad stuff in it. But it’s a really bad film filled with enough annoying, imitative behavior that your kids will be better off not seeing it. Much of the attempted humor comes from bodily functions that are graphically seen and heard. More troubling is the action of firing guns at people as another attempt at humor that may give kids the wrong idea about guns. We strongly suggest that you read through the scene listings if you're still considering letting your kids see this one.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Angus and an associate drink whiskey.
Gustav occasionally drinks a martini.
Leo pours wine for them.
Gustav toasts the upcoming hunt with wine.
People drink in a karoke bar.

BLOOD/GORE: Many of the entries below aren’t exactly bloody or gory, but are rather disgusting nonetheless.
There are several scenes with farting sounds and in one, Pest is defecating in the woods and more graphic scatological sounds are heard. In addition, he uses a sock to wipe his behind and it’s later seen with fecal stains on it.
Pest is strapped to a spinning table and then throws up. His vomit flies through the air striking an observation window.
Many mounted human heads are seen on Gustav’s walls and on his shelves.
Pest loses bladder control and urine runs down his pants leg at Gustav’s house.
Pest and Himmel get sea sick and there are several graphic shots of them throwing up, including one where Himmel vomits onto Pest’s face.
Runny seagull poop lands on Himmel’s face.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: In many different scenes, Pest mocks Japanese, Scottish, Jewish, other ethnic groups, blind people, and those who stutter by doing stereotypical imitations of them.
Pest is a scam artist who tries to hustle people for their money.
Pest pockets many of Gustav’s belongings when he’s not in the room.
Even though it's not meant to be taken seriously, the fact that Gustav hunts people shows that he has both.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: None.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Machine guns/Rocket Launcher: Fired at other people to scare or attempt to kill them. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Doing stereotypical impersonations of other ethnic groups, blind people and those who stutter.
Pest dances and prances around in all sorts of goofy ways (making male masturbation movements with his hand, slapping his own butt, etc...) that younger kids may imitate.
Pest throws food at a sibling during breakfast.
Phrases: "Moron," "Fat loser boy," "Sucker," "Punk," "Loser" "You have mossy teeth and a fat butt," "Freak," "What a hot wench," "Fire hose" (for penis), "I hate you," "Shut up," "I hope you get violated by pig monkey men," "Weirdo," "Chump," "Idiot," "Suck face," "Bitch," "Slut," "You suck," "Later, masturbator," and "Horny little dog."
Pest burps into the phone he’s talking into.
Pest licks a woman’s photograph.
Pest immediately repeats every word and gesture that Gustav makes to annoy him.
Pest blows a "raspberry" at Gustav.
After toasting an agreement, Pest throws his wine glass into a wall.
Pest puts his chewing gum inside a book and then closes it.
Pest gooses his girlfriend’s mother’s butt.
Pest runs and throws himself through a glass door to escape from Gustav.
Pest sticks his fingers in Gustav’s nose and then licks his face.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: 3 hells, 2 "ass" words, and 6 uses of "Oh my God," 3 uses each of "My God" and "God," and 1 use each of "God damn" and "For God’s sakes" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: In the opening and closing credits, Pest dances around in his shower and very brief glimpses of his bare butt are seen.
Pest tells his girlfriend that he’s going to tell his parents that she’s pregnant so that they’ll like her (she’s not).
A man asks Pest how he could tell he was a man (said when Pest is acting like he’s blind). Pest replies, "Because I could hear your gonads shaking."
Pest pulls down a Scots’ kilt to reveal that the man is wearing frilly panties.
Pest finds a book and reads the title, "Sex Be Nimble. Sex Be Quick."
It’s assumed Himmel is gay by his effeminate behavior and by the way he lustfully looks at Pest. Later, to get into Himmel’s room to hide, Pest thrusts his butt toward Himmel to arouse him. Then as Gustav, Leo and Himmel track Pest with a bug Leo planted in his underwear, Himmel asks, "Why don’t I ever get the fun jobs?"
Himmel shows Pest a bottle of sex secretion hormones (normally used to lure animals into traps) and then shows him videotape footage of two mating lions. Later these hormones are splashed onto Gustav in a bar. Leo tells Gustav, "I’m strangely attracted to you," and many men then jump on top of Gustav.
At a party one guy asks another, "Who would you choose (to have sex with), Ginger or Mary Ann (from "Gilligan’s Island"), and "Would you or would you not have sex with a space alien?"
Pest explains that his Latino ancestors had sex with his Indian ancestors who had sex with his African American ancestors, etc...
A woman’s bare butt is seen as she wears a thong.

SMOKING: A man smokes in a Chinese restaurant.
Gustav lights the cigar in Pest’s mouth, but the scene ends before he actually smokes it.
Himmel smokes a cigarette.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: What inspired people to make such a horrible film, how it ever got released, and how many days before it leaves the theaters.
The plot deals with a hunter trying to kill Pest and most of the time it’s played for laughs, including a scene where Gustav shoots his own son and other times when Gustav shoots at, or near Pest.

VIOLENCE: A member of the Scottish mafia punches Pest several times in the face and then kicks him while he’s on the ground.
A restaurant manager slaps his chef on the head several times.
Angus tells Pest he wants his money or he’ll kill Pest’s whole family.
Pest acts blind and knocks over and breaks nick knacks in Gustav’s house.
Pest is hit many times by tennis balls fired from a machine.
Tired of Pest’s antics, Gustav pulls out a handgun and says, "I’m going to kill him now," but Leo restrains him.
Leo kicks a small gun from Pest’s hand and then punches him in the face.
Gustav fires several shots that nick Pest’s legs and then fires many shots in his direction to get him to run away to begin the hunt.
Pest fights with a large snake in the jungle and then thrashes it onto the ground.
Himmel is hit by a large swinging tree trunk that knocks him into a lake.
Himmel accidentally fires a rocket that blows up Pest and knocks him several feet away.
Gustav shoots many people in their butts with tranquilizer darts and then hits Pest in the face with the butt of his rifle.
Gustav bends a man’s arm backwards and then kicks him many times.
Gustav holds Pest’s family and his girlfriend’s family hostage.
Pest fires a machine gun at Gustav and Leo.
After Himmel says, "You’ll have to shoot me first," Gustav shoots him in the chest with a handgun and then casually explains his actions, "He’s wearing a bulletproof vest," to which Himmel replies, "That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt."

Reviewed February 6, 1997

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