I have
to admit, When I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought
it was going to be the stupidest thing going. It looked like
it was going to be a lesser retread of the classic It's a
Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Soon after, I saw an interview with
John Cleese who stars in the film. He had said that this was
only the second script in his life where he knew would be
funny as soon as he read it (the first being Clockwise). When
you consider some of the scripts that he has read (Life of
Brian, Holy Grail, Fish Called Wanda) that statement shouldn't
be taken lightly. At the very least It made me want to go
see if it was as bad as the preview looked or as good as Cleese
said it would be.
The film opens up in a Las Vegas casino. Several of the patrons
playing the slot machines win odd looking gold coins that
admit them into a private party. When they arrive, they are
met with a Casino Owner (John Cleese) who tells them that
they won a chance to compete for 2 million dollars. They are
all given a key to the locker of a train station in New Mexico
where the cash is and then they are told that the race has
started. The rules of the contest are simple. There are no
rules. At first, they all decide that it is a scam and then
one by one they make a break for the hills. The group is made
up an assortment of people. An NFL referee (Cuba Gooding Jr.)
who has recently blown a coin toss in a championship game,
a vacationing family man (Jon Lovitz) who is dragging his
wife and kids half way across country, a straight arrow lawyer
(Brecken Meyer) who has never done a crazy thing in his life,
two con artist brothers (Seth Green and Vince Vieluf) with
more balls than brains, a recently reunited mother and daughter
(Whopie Goldberg and Lanei Chapman) and an Italian tourist
(Rowan Atkinson). Each of them get off to an early start and
they all run in to snags. The radar at the airport breaks
down and they all have to scramble for alternative transportation.
Vengeance seeking cabbies, bathroom breaks, squirrel saleswomen,
a bus full of Lucy's, and a missing human heart all conspire
against the contestants.
This is with out a doubt the funniest film that I have seen
in years. It is not the most sophisticated humor around. It
is juvenile at times and it relies on lowest common denominator
humor at other times, but no matter what type of humor they
use it is funny ALL the time. The cast, which also features
Amy smart, Kathy Bates, Wayne Knight, Paul Rodriguez and Dave
Thomas are all exceptionally good and the situations that
they put them in are even better. I dare you not to laugh
when Jon Lovitz and family visit the Barbie museum and the
running jokes there after. I don't know what the marketing
strategy was but for some reason they show you all the worst
stuff in the preview. I am glad that they did because most
of the better jokes would have been ruined if you saw a bit
of them in advance.
This is a must see film. I have not laughed this hard at a
movie in years and judging from the audience reaction neither
have they. Each of the cast does a great job and director
Jerry Zucker (Airplane) has directed a terrific, silly summer
popcorn film that should not be missed. On a 1 to 10 scale,
Rat Race gets a 9.5.
Paul Ferris
Wheel
Deal Review
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