Spoilers are off as per wiki policy. Read at your own risk!
- The movie opens with the funeral of Lars and Ernie's father Rudolf Smuntz. If you ignore the banter between Lars and Ernie and Rudolf catapulted into a manhole.
- The death of Rudolf Smuntz. Lars is understandably despondent and struggling to stay optimistic, while Ernie is bitter over his many unresolved issues with his father due to their differences over his aspirations. As Lars is given the offer of selling Smuntz String to ZeppCo, Lars reminisces the moment of Rudolf on his death bed and was told to never sell his company.Rudolf: My sons...
Lars: (to Ernie, whispering) Ernie. Ernie.
Ernie: (reading a magazine) Yeah, just a sec.
Rudolf: I want you... to have... something: my most prized possession.
(Rudolf holds a string)
Lars: Oh, it's a piece of string.
Rudolf: Not just any string; the string. I found it my first day in America.
Ernie: What's with the string?
Rudolf: I've had it in my pocket for 60 years. Here. I want you two to share it. Maybe it'll bring you closer together. You haven't talked much lately.
Ernie: Yeah.
Rudolf: (As Ernie starts to tug on it) Ah! What are you doing?!
Ernie: I'm breaking it in half.
Rudolf: No!
Ernie: No?
Rudolf: I want you to share it, forever.
Ernie: Sure, Pop, sure. You carry it the first 50 years, I'll take it the next.
Lars: Sure.
Ernie: And turn up the morphine drip a little.
Rudolf: I heard that.
(Ernie goes back to reading the magazine.)
Rudolf: Promise me... that you will never sell... Smuntz String... to one of those big conglomerates. Keep it between you; brothers, family. Promise.
Lars: I promise, Pop. I promise. - Ernie losing his restaurant Chez Ernie due to a single cockroach. This results in him working at a local diner. In the next scene, Ernie discusses his heartbreak with Lars while walking in town.Ernie: When I'm in the kitchen, I cook. I can't control every single thing that goes on in there.
Lars: You know, it really isn't fair for everybody to blame you. You didn't do anything wrong.
Ernie: Yes, but society always needs someone to persecute. A scapegoat, someone to demonize. The same thing happened to Galileo.
Lars: Really? Unbelievable. With a cockroach, and everything?
Ernie: No. The point is, I put everything I had into that restaurant. It was my livelihood, and my home. In one fatal bite, it was all taken away from me. - The death of the mayor at Ernie's restaurant. Black Comedy was firmly in effect with this one, but he was still an innocent man who during an innocent family dinner saw his own heart give out, leaving behind his wife and young daughters. Worse still, Ernie takes the fall for what was an honest, albeit careless mistake and loses everything he's worked for as he's vilified by the public.
- The mouse's home getting destroyed. He's just crawled into bed after a hard day's work collecting food when a bunch of giant nails just burst out of the walls to wreck everything and nearly killing him—he's even grasping his sheets in horror!
- The little girl being forcefully separated from her kitten by her mother, with the innocent animal being taken into a gas-filled room to face a highly uncertain fate. You know you despised the woman for putting them both through that.
- Catzilla's demise at the hands of the mouse. We never see if he survived his ordealnote , but as terrifying a creature as he was it doesn't make the suffering of an animal any less upsetting. Also, hearing meowing panifully after falling down the shaft is quite sad. It almost sounds like he's crying.
- It's a brief moment, but after seeing the house totally trashed after Caesar's failure in killing the mouse, Ernie seems to be actually hurt in by particular by the kitchen's horrible and disastrous conditions. Since he was a professional chef, this is quite justified.Ernie: (sadly and shocked) My kitchen...!
- Ernie scolds Lars for choosing to spend his days working at Smuntz String and brings up a moment where he made Rudolf a meal when he was 70, in hope he'd show a bit of recognition, but nothing. All Ernie wanted was his father's respect.Ernie: Spending your whole life in that stupid factory! It's tragic.
Lars: You think I didn't have other things I wanted to do with my life? You think I didn't have ambitions of my own?
Ernie: Oh, come on, you love string.
Lars: I didn't love string.
Ernie: Well, you could have fooled me. You and Pop were always huddled together running some piece of something through your fingers. It didn't matter what I did, I didn't even exist! I made him my special rack of lamb for his 70th birthday.
Lars: Oh, no…
Ernie: Yes, you remember! I slaved over that meal, making sure everything was perfect! Did he say, "Thanks, Ernie, it was delicious"? No. He only noticed the string I had tied it with. He was crazy! ... But I still wanted his approval. I didn’t leave, Lars, I was cast out.
