When you accept $50,000 to be a human target, it's best to be a moving target. The multi-faceted John Leguizamo stars as "the Pest" -- a Miami con man whose wit and wiles allow him to don whatever personality will save his skin -- no matter who might be offended in the process. It's a chase, a hunt, a party and a riot all around Miami's colorful South Beach district
A TriStar Pictures and The Bubble Factory presentation, The Pest is a chase, a hunt, a party and a riot all around Miami's colorful South Beach.
John Leguizamo, whose inventive comedy has garnered numerous awards and legions of fans, stars as Pestario "Pest" Vargas, a chameleon-like con artist who can go from being a fast-talking Chinese delivery boy to an unorthodox Orthodox Rabbi in the blink of an eye. He's a karaoke-singing Japanese businessman and an over-the-top African in head-to-toe kente cloth rolled up into one. It's an ability that usually gets him out of any jam -- anytime, anywhere -- but Pest will need every face he's got once he attracts the attention of Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones), the crazy German who is hunting him (for his head), and the mob (the Scottish mob, that is), who want the $50,000 he owes them.
The town is Little Havana in Miami, Florida. The Calle Ocho Festival is in full swing. Tricked out in a blind-man costume, Pest (John Leguizamo) takes every advantage of the chaos with a shell game that has already snagged more than one gullible passerby. Helping the scam along are Pest's best friends Chubby (Aries Spears) and Ninja (Freddy Rodriguez).
While Pest's street hustle will probably nab him a couple of bills, it has also attracted some dangerous attention. A borderline psychotic eager to complete his trophy collection of human heads with a species he calls Latinicus Spicticus, Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones) sees the resourceful Latino as entertaining prey. Accompanying Gustav and doing the dirty work for him is his henchman Leo (Tom McCleister), whose job it is to find perfect specimens for his boss. The requirements: all the candidates must be formidable enough foes to make this dangerous game a real challenge.
Pest is easily lured with the promise of a $50,000 scholarship -- since he just happens to owe that figure to the Scottish mob -- and the game is afoot. Though the odds of outlasting and outwitting the crazed Gustav on his own island of Little Germany are stacked against Pest, he finds an unlikely ally in Gustav's son Himmel (Edoardo Ballerini). Never too fond of his dad's "hobby," Himmel ultimately helps Pest get off the island.
The cat and mouse game resumes on the streets of Miami. Gustav narrows in on Pest and his buddies by taking some hilarious detours into the world of private night clubs, karaoke bars and orthodox synagogues. Staying alive has never been so tough. It's an all-out, knock-down, drag-out scam to the finish but Pest will do whatever it takes to outrun the psycho hunters and Scottish mobsters and make it to his African-American girlfriend's house in time for dinner with her parents -- no matter who is offended in the process.
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