Director Gary Sherman is perhaps best remembered for his cult titles Raw Meat (1972) and Dead & Buried (1981), or maybe for his franchise contribution, Poltergeist III (1988). But one of his last theatrical features, Lisa (1990) gets a Blu-ray release this month, which features surprisingly adept performances in what remains a pseudo-ya thriller. Television stars Cheryl Ladd (“Charlie’s Angels”) and Staci Keanan (“Step By Step,” here in her feature debut) play a Los Angeles mother and daughter who get caught up in a serial killer’s web of murder and sex in a film that curiously exchanges thrills for logical character development. Co-written by Karen Clark (who would solely work on television features following this film), the script presents in sobering fashion a female teenager’s yearning to break out into adulthood via dating and sex despite the lack of maturity that only age can bring. Unfortunately, the rather hokey genre elements this...
- 9/29/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
You can't accuse "The Pest" of failing to live up to its title.
Clocking in at a merciful 82 minutes, the loud, irritating John Leguizamo comedy starts out at a spazzed-out, fever pitch with nowhere to go but off as it spews forth a nonstop parade of ethnic and sexual stereotypes. If nothing else, it proves to be an equal-opportunity offender.
Adolescent males may be initially lured by the barrage of bodily function footage, but the TriStar film will unlikely be pestering the multiplexes for very long.
Coming off as a Latino Jim Carrey, the remarkably talented Leguizamo collaborated on the story -- yet another goof on "The Most Dangerous Game" -- with his "House of Buggin'" co-creator David Bar Katz. He throws subtlety to the winds in the role of Pestario "Pest" Vargas, a con artist on hyper-drive who's on the run from the Scottish mob in Miami's South Beach.
The $50,000 he owes them is within reach, provided he agrees to a little business arrangement offered by the Germanic Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones), a career hunter whose collection of mounted human heads is one particular minority group short. Pest fits the bill, and if he agrees to be part of Gustav's little hunting expedition, he'll pocket the money -- provided he makes it out alive. Otherwise it's a one-way trip to the trophy room.
A human chameleon with an impressive range demonstrated in film ("William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet," "To Wong Foo ..".), television ("House of Buggin'" ) and stage ("Mambo Mouth"), Leguizamo lays most of it to waste here with an annoying vehicle that plays like a Pauly Shore cast-off.
Veteran TV director Paul Miller ("Saturday Night Live", "In Living Color") opts for a noisy, over-the-top approach to the material that still might have been contained on the small screen. But treated to a larger-than-life visual format and Dolby-enhanced supersonic sound, "The Pest" recklessly veers into overkill, leaving the rest of the cast (even Jones) in its dust.
At least it's a colorful mess, thanks to the South Beach backdrop and the production design from longtime Blake Edwards collaborator Rodger E. Maus.
THE PEST
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
In presentation with the Bubble Factory
A Sheinberg production
Director Paul Miller
Screenwriter David Bar Katz
Story David Bar Katz & John Leguizamo
Producers Sid, Jon and Bill Sheinberg
Executive producer Robert A. Papazian
Director of photography Roy H. Wagner
Production designer Rodger E. Maus
Editors Ross Albert, David Rawlins
Costume designer Tom McKinley
Music Kevin Kiner
Casting Wendy Kurtzman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pest John Leguizamo
Gustav Jeffrey Jones
Himmel Edoardo Ballerini
Chubby Aries Spears
Ninja Freddy Rodriguez
Xantha Kent Tammy Townsend
Running time -- 82 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Clocking in at a merciful 82 minutes, the loud, irritating John Leguizamo comedy starts out at a spazzed-out, fever pitch with nowhere to go but off as it spews forth a nonstop parade of ethnic and sexual stereotypes. If nothing else, it proves to be an equal-opportunity offender.
Adolescent males may be initially lured by the barrage of bodily function footage, but the TriStar film will unlikely be pestering the multiplexes for very long.
Coming off as a Latino Jim Carrey, the remarkably talented Leguizamo collaborated on the story -- yet another goof on "The Most Dangerous Game" -- with his "House of Buggin'" co-creator David Bar Katz. He throws subtlety to the winds in the role of Pestario "Pest" Vargas, a con artist on hyper-drive who's on the run from the Scottish mob in Miami's South Beach.
The $50,000 he owes them is within reach, provided he agrees to a little business arrangement offered by the Germanic Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones), a career hunter whose collection of mounted human heads is one particular minority group short. Pest fits the bill, and if he agrees to be part of Gustav's little hunting expedition, he'll pocket the money -- provided he makes it out alive. Otherwise it's a one-way trip to the trophy room.
A human chameleon with an impressive range demonstrated in film ("William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet," "To Wong Foo ..".), television ("House of Buggin'" ) and stage ("Mambo Mouth"), Leguizamo lays most of it to waste here with an annoying vehicle that plays like a Pauly Shore cast-off.
Veteran TV director Paul Miller ("Saturday Night Live", "In Living Color") opts for a noisy, over-the-top approach to the material that still might have been contained on the small screen. But treated to a larger-than-life visual format and Dolby-enhanced supersonic sound, "The Pest" recklessly veers into overkill, leaving the rest of the cast (even Jones) in its dust.
At least it's a colorful mess, thanks to the South Beach backdrop and the production design from longtime Blake Edwards collaborator Rodger E. Maus.
THE PEST
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
In presentation with the Bubble Factory
A Sheinberg production
Director Paul Miller
Screenwriter David Bar Katz
Story David Bar Katz & John Leguizamo
Producers Sid, Jon and Bill Sheinberg
Executive producer Robert A. Papazian
Director of photography Roy H. Wagner
Production designer Rodger E. Maus
Editors Ross Albert, David Rawlins
Costume designer Tom McKinley
Music Kevin Kiner
Casting Wendy Kurtzman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pest John Leguizamo
Gustav Jeffrey Jones
Himmel Edoardo Ballerini
Chubby Aries Spears
Ninja Freddy Rodriguez
Xantha Kent Tammy Townsend
Running time -- 82 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 2/11/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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