Mouse Hunt is not very funny, and maybe couldn t have been very funny no matter what, because the pieces for comedy are not in place. It s the story of two luckless brothers who inherit a priceless architectural treasure, and hope to auction it for a big bundle, but are frustrated at every turn by the house s only inhabitant, a very clever mouse. Quick: Who do we sympathize with? The brothers, or the mouse? The movie doesn t know, and as a result the payoffs are lost in a comic vacuum. Pratfalls, slapstick and special effects are not funny in themselves (something Hollywood keeps forgetting). They re only funny when they apply to someone we have an attitude about, so that we want them to succeed, or fail. A comedy that hasn t assigned sympathy to some characters and made others hateful cannot expect to get many laughs, because the audience doesn t know who to laugh at, or with.