Rat Race

Plot synopsis:
Donald Sinclair (John Cleese), the eccentric owner of The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, devises a new game to entertain the high rollers who visit his hotel. Six special tokens are placed in the casino's slot machines, and the winners are gathered together and told that $2 million in cash is hidden in a duffel bag in a train station locker in Silver City, New Mexico, 563 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Each team is given a key to the locker and told to race across the desert to the train station and claim the money. Unbeknownst to the competitors, Sinclair's wealthy patrons are placing bets on who will win. The group of patrons continue to make smaller bets throughout the course of the film, facilitated by Sinclair's assistant Grisham (Dave Thomas), who at one point hires an escort as part of a dare.
Among the racers are scheming siblings Duane (Seth Green) and Blaine Cody (Vince Vieluf), businesswoman Merrill Jennings (Lanai Chapman) and her estranged mother Vera (Whoopi Goldberg), disgraced American football referee Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding Jr.), the Pear family led by opportunistic father Randy (Jon Lovitz), eccentric Italian tourist Enrico Pollini (Rowan Atkinson), and no-nonsense Nick Schaffer (Breckin Meyer).
Unable to get on the earliest flight, Duane and Blaine manage to destroy the radar with their Ford Bronco, grounding everybody else. However their car is wrecked in the sabotage, so they steal another before deciding to split up to double their chances of winning by creating a replica key. The locksmith (Silas Weir Mitchell) overhears their plan, and makes off with the key, trying to escape in a hot air balloon. Duane and Blaine catch up to him, leaving the locksmith and a stray dairy cow hanging from the balloon's anchor rope. The brothers later accidentally swerve their vehicle into a monster truck rally, where it is destroyed. They therefore steal a monster truck and continue on to Silver City.
Merrill and Vera crash their car thanks to malicious road directions given by a crazed squirrel saleswoman (Kathy Bates). They steal a rocket car, which races across the desert until it runs out of fuel. The women dizzily stumble onto a bus full of mental patients which eventually drives toward Silver City.
Owen is left stranded in the desert by a vengeful cab driver (Paul Rodriguez) who lost $20,000 on his bad call in a football game. He comes across a coach bus filled with Lucille Ball impersonators going to an I Love Lucy convention and disguises himself as the driver. Just outside Silver City, the bus hits the cow dangling from the hot air balloon, swerving off the road and suffering a puncture (and eventually rolling over). Owen breaks down, reveals he is not a coach driver, and is forced to flee from the women on foot. After hiding, he steals some clothes from a scarecrow and rides a stolen horse the rest of the way.
Randy Pear deceives his family into accompanying him in the race, but they mistakenly visit a museum dedicated to the Nazi Klaus Barbie. After the Cody brothers vandalize their car, the Pears steal Adolf Hitler's staff car to continue. Randy accidentally insults a biker gang and they attack, causing the Pears to crash into a meeting for World War II veterans who believe the family to be Nazis after seeing Randy exiting Hitler's car while unknowingly resembling Hitler. After being chased away, the family tell Randy they want to stop the race, but he drugs them with sleeping pills, and bundles them into a semi-truck to reach Silver City.
Nick chooses not to participate in the race until he meets pilot Tracy Faucet (Amy Smart), one of the few still able to fly using her non-fixed-wing helicopter; he realizes she gives him a large advantage, then persuades her to give him a lift. They pass over Tracy's boyfriend's (Dean Cain) house but spot him with his ex-girlfriend, enraging Tracy to the point that she attacks and chases him in the helicopter. It stalls out, causing her and Nick to steal her boyfriend's truck. Now without a job and on the run, Tracey accompanies Nick to Silver City.
Narcoleptic Enrico falls asleep at the start of the race and only awakens hours later. He rushes out of the casino to be run down by ambulance driver Zack (Wayne Knight), who is delivering a transplant heart to El Paso. Wishing to avoid trouble, Zack agrees to take Enrico to Silver City. When Zack shows off the heart, it bounces out the window and a stray dog picks it up; Enrico plays fetch with it, until the dog gets killed by an electric fence. Zack considers murdering Enrico to use his heart as a replacement, but Enrico escapes on a passing train. In despair Zack touches the electric fence, which brings the retrieved heart back to life.
All the racers reunite in Silver City, most running side-by-side on foot toward the station. Enrico arrives first by train, only to fall asleep with his key in the locker. The others show up and tackle each other to open the locker, only to find it is empty. They all run outside and find Sinclair's assistant Grisham and the call girl he hired making off with the money bag. They lose it when the locksmith ties it to the balloon, only for the three to crash their car.
The racers follow the balloon until it lands at an outdoor charity concert hosted by Smash Mouth. The band and crowd mistake the money as a donation, and once they see the charitable good spirit they've made, the group are persuaded to accept. Nick then surprises a horrified Sinclair and his patrons by declaring that they will match the amount raised (which is shown increasing at an alarming rate on the display board). The film ends with the racers dancing to "All Star" and crowd surfing in the audience as Sinclair weeps.

Tags: comedy, humor, entertaining

Review:
The movie succeeds without clever jokes, with its hilarious scenes to make fun of the greedy or the "don't know how to spend their money" people.
Who better to breathe life into the subject than Jerry Zucker, the mastermind behind the "Naked Gun" films, and "Airplane," two of the most hilarious movies I have seen.
"It's very visual and there are lots of big visual stunts," Zucker explains in the film's production notes, "kind of a James Bond comedy in a way because there are so many sight gags."	Good comparison-"Race Race" is indeed a visual comedy.
The audience does not necessarily laugh at every single joke the movie throws, but the humor is timed well.
The antics are silly, but they come at you fast and furious -- a transvestile Lucy (in a whole bunch of Lucys), squirrels, cows, balloons, a dead dog, a heart transplant, car wrecks, bowel movements, a bullet train, and much much more.It's slapstick and double take time in this zany comedy about human greed and just plain old stupidity.
But I'm here to tell you, that is decidedly NOT the case with `Rat Race,' directed by Jerry Zucker, and furthermore, make a mental note:  This movie is hilarious, and one you DO NOT want to miss.
In the tradition of Stanley Kramer's 1963 BIG comedy hit, `It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,' this one is exactly what it is supposed to be-- Fun (yes, with a capital `F'), and Funny-- with one laugh after another that just keep on a-comin'.Las Vegas casino owner Donald Sinclair (John Cleese), likes to offer his elite customers-- the `high rollers'-- something they can't get anywhere else, in the form of things they can gamble on that are so bizarre you can only imagine.
And Sinclair's high rollers proceed to put down some big bucks on their favorite horse-- uh, dog!-- uh-- Well, you get the idea...The participants include Nick (Breckin Meyer), who is pretty much just a regular guy; NFL referee Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding Jr.), hated by millions because of a recent botched call; brothers Duane and Blaine Cody (Seth Green, Vince Vieluf), not the brightest bulbs to begin with, and hampered in their communications by Blaine's newly pierced tongue; a mother, Vera (Whoopi Goldberg), and the daughter she gave up for adoption and with whom she has just reunited, Merrill (Lanei Chapman); Randy Pear (Jon Lovitz), who has a hard time making his wife, Bev (Kathy Najimy), and their two kids, Kimberly (Jillian Marie) and Jason (Brody Smith) understand why he's interrupted their Vegas vacation to drag them off suddenly to New Mexico; and-- last but not least-- Enrico Pollini (Rowan Atkinson), a narcoleptic Italian.
It's quite the eclectic bunch, and they definitely put on quite a show.During the rush for the gold, they encounter a number of people and situations that drive the laugh meter through the roof, including:  A woman (Kathy Bates) selling squirrels by the roadside (Vera and Merrill); a group of `Lucy' impersonators on their way to some kind of Lucy convention (Owen); a `Barbie' museum that isn't what it seems, and not a great place for the Jewish Pear family to visit; an errant cow, a hot air balloon and a guy who overhears too much (Duane and Blaine); a jealous helicopter pilot named Tracy (Amy Smart), who buzzes her boyfriend's house at a most inopportune time (Nick); an ambulance driver, Zack (Wayne Knight), who is transporting a human heart for a transplant, and suffers something akin to the same fate as that famous `cat' due to his curiosity (Enrico).
And that's a rare thing to be said of any comedy, and it's a big part of why this one's such a gem.The cast is superb, but the highlights have to be Cuba Gooding Jr., who demonstrates a real knack for comedy; John Cleese, who can make you laugh just by smiling, brandishing as he does a spectacular set of teeth; and Rowan Atkinson, who does some masterful bits of physical comedy, the likes of which rivals the best of Peter Sellers and Buster Keaton.
One that lives up to it's expectations and more, `Rat Race' is everything you want it to be, a laugh a minute movie that never lets up, and one that won't wear your brain out making you think about it too much.
Things pick up considerably as soon as John Cleese outlines the central premise; from then on the film is never less than inventive, and even if (for some reason) you don't find it funny, you must admit that those involved at least had the right IDEA about comedy..
It really is that good and I want to support this throwback comedy while it is still playing (it didn't exactly set the box office on fire on its opening weekend).Out and out laughs, a great time at the movies..who can ask for more?.
Who would have expected a film with John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson, Jon Lovitz etc to be this non-funny!
Maybe the ending wasn't the best and I don't know what Siskel and Ebert would think, but this was the funniest movie I have ever seen.
I adore "Airplane!", "Top Secret!", "Ruthless People", and "The Naked Gun." So when I heard that Jerry Zucker was making a new comedy AND that it starred such funny actors as Jon Lovitz, Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson, Seth Green, John Cleese, and Wayne Knight, I was convinced that it would be absolutely hilarious and become the funniest film of the year.And I was not disappointed.
OK, so "Shrek" is more likely seen as the funniest film of the year by critics, but in terms of my own personal enjoyment, "Rat Race" is it.Jon Lovitz and family were great; the whole Nazi bit was absolutely inspired.
John Cleese and the other gamblers proved to be another great subplot (the scene with the hooker is my favorite scene of the movie).Some people commented on the ending.
I always wanted to see Rat Race but I never did, don't know why, but I thought of it last night while I was renting some movies.
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, it's a fun comedy and deserves a better rating on IMDb, trust me, it really is that funny.8/10.
The plot is copied from It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World which I think is one of the comedy classics - take a group of unrelated people, point them to some treasure at the end of the rainbow, stand back and watch human nature take over.
I like John Cleese, Cuba Gooding, Whoppi Goldberg...and was smitten with Amy Smart - just don't get her angry with you ;-)In the Special Features section all the actors were saying that it was a true joy on the set even with 14 hour days - lots of laughing and good times - and it shows in the performances..
Essentially a re-make of a 1963 film called "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", it suffers from too little character development, and far too many stupid scenes that aren't very funny.The huge cast of stars, one of the film's biggest attractions, is also it's greatest liability.
This film brings new meaning to the words dreadful, pathetic, stupid, woeful, awful, time-wasting and, most importantly, UNFUNNY.How the big name cast possibly agreed to participate in this dog is so utterly beyond my comprehension that I'm speechless.
That is, Whoopi, Cuba, Cleese, all these big names, got together and said "hey - let's make a film touted as a comedy that really isn't funny and has the most intellectually devoid storyline in the history of movie making.
With people like John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson, I hoped for the best, although I must also admit that I'm not a fan of Whoopi Goldberg, which still made me doubt about it.
However, I didn't see it as a reason not to watch this movie and that's why I gave this "Rat Race" a try.When a group of billionaires is searching for something new to bet on, they find the perfect solution for their 'problem' in the new game that Las Vegas casino owner Donald P.
Perhaps this movie is the culmination of a study of American audiences, whereby, the results show that if you've had one good laugh, you feel like you have seen a good comedy.
Along the lines of Farrely brothers but without their intelligence and class sensibility, Rat Race is neither a comedy nor a movie.
rat race was indeed born of high pedigree, Jerry Zucker directing is always a good thing, John Cleese rarely fails to entertain and coupled with Rowan Atkinson the pair seemed sure to pull off a hilarious feast of laughter.However the film fails to entertain let alone provide laughter.
I don't know if I'm wrong or everybody els'es that says this movie is good are, sincerely I just wanna do a favor to people that has doubts about seeing it, renting it or even worse buying it(don't do it really!).The trailers and very early previews might seem fun in some way or another but its not funny at all, it gets to fall in a series of you're-supposed-to-laugh-here scenes that tend to get in really bad jokes, bad very very bad acting, tasteless scenes, cheesy effects; this movie has it all, all wrong that is.As final comment the movie would have been funny due to the basic concept, but believe me is really way far from that..
Very good/funny actors (Seth Green, Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Wayne Knight) who are stuck in a movie that just makes you gag and wonder wish that you could demand your money back from Blockbuster.
While they manage to pull off a couple funny jokes, and Rowan Atkinson is of course delightful to watch, most of the time I felt like I was watching like a Fox TV reject trying to keep a 6 year old laughing long enough to spit milk out his nose.
Last night I watched "Rat Race" - one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life.In the video store I picked up this movie on DVD, noted the stellar cast and good reviews on the cover and thought that it could be worth watching.
Sometimes when you watch a movie you're disappointed because your expectations are too high, or because you're just not in the right mood to appreciate that sort of film.
It's the most unfunny rubbish I've ever seen, and an incredible waste of a talented cast; John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson and Whoopi Goldberg just to mention three actors that probably wake up every night in a cold sweat wishing they'd never agreed to be in this trash.The plot, such as it is, is this:  A wealthy Las Vegas casino owner (played by John Cleese) comes up with a scheme to entertain his high-rollers.
Rat Race (2001)This is such a great comedy movie!!!
The cast is unbelievable: Whoopi Goldberg, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Seth Green, and of course the wackiest of all, Rowan Atkinson (his part is really funny because of his personality, and especially how he has that sleeping disorder).
The first team to get there, unlock the locker, and take the money gets to keep it.Assembled for this mad race are a Narcoleptic Indian migrant (Rowan Atkinson), a materially-obsessed businesswoman and her long-lost mother (Whoopi Goldberg), and a football referee who is hated because of a botched coin toss call (Cuba Gooding, Jr. in a welcome return to form).
This movie will be considered a classic.PS: If you rent it on dvd and you liked the movie, the deleted scenes are worth watching because you'll want to keep on laughing..
Those people never laugh with their bellies; at most, in their funniest moments, they smile with their mouths but not with their eyes.They complain that "Rat Race" is stupid, but, if one is a rocket scientist smart enough to understand the math behind quantum mechanics, one realizes that being funny is about being stupid.
Our old 1960s era British veterans favorites John Cleese ("Faulty towers", "Monty Python", and "A fish called Wanda", all hilarious) and Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean"), Whoopie Goldberg (in her best performance since "Ghost" and "Clara's heart"), John Lovitz, Amy Smart as very pretty blonde, Seth Green (who's funny as Scotty in the "Austin Powers" movies), and Brekin Meyer (who somehow got charged for watching 11 hours of porn in his hotel room).
But both those characters are classics, and stirred into this film, they become still funnier.Many of the talents used in 'Rat Race' include Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson (re-using many aspects of his Mr. Bean persona), Cuba Gooding, Jr., Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, and a plethora of others.
John Cleese, Brecken Meyer, Seth Green, Whoopie Goldberg, Jon Lovitz, Amy Smart, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Rowan Atkinson give great perfomrances.In the beginning of this movie there was a little cartoony opening with a stupid song, but it gets way better.
Despite a few inspired, off-the-wall comedic moments (like the bit where Jon Lovitz and his family stop at the Barbie Museum only to find out it has nothing to do with perfectly modeled plastic dolls), Rat Race is a smash-up derby orgy featuring hapless, screeching actors who are probably wishing they had better scripts to choose from.There are a few offensive performances in the movie, but none stand out as much as Cuba Gooding, Jr.
(two of the most brilliant comedies of all time) has failed to capture any of the things that made those movies great.The film is about a group of outrageous people who are racing to get a two-million dollar prize.
John Cleese, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rowan Atkinson and the rest, all do a great job.
Here's a film with a lot of good points; if you've never watched a single comedy before in your entire life that is.
I thought the movie was completely unfunny.I don't hate Rowan Atkinson as a rule, but I hated his character in this film.
Simple as that.The people involved are played by Breckin Meyer, Cuba Gooding Jr., Amy Smart, Jon Lovitz, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green, Lanei Chapman, and Vince Vieluf.
The music in this film matches pitch perfectly to the stressful scenes, and the tense atmosphere these characters are clearly occupying.Also equipped with delightful cameos, hilarious little side-stories, one of the best opening intros in recent memory, and an unexpecting and cherished end scene that shows even when consumed with greed and self-absorption that people are still likely to do admirable things, Rat Race is nothing shy of funny and well-made comedy.
It's a universally appealing film that stands out for more than just its actors, but its message and its execution is all just remarkable.Starring: Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Kathy Najimy, Lanei Chapman, Vince Vieluf, Dave Thomas, Wayne Knight, Kathy Bates, and Dean Cain.
Nice and funny film, suitable for laughing out loud while the cast of actors is excellent with the great Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr. The plot is really crazy and exciting, the film then there is no vulgarity.
The cast is not used, instead a lot of fine people simply respond to plot contrivances, which in turn are never developed.So many times good ideas are left to fade while the movie moves on to another deux ex machina which never develops.
This movie degrades squirrels and cows.While making a sad lame ass attempt at comedy, this is shamefully bad on almost all levels of story composture, dialog, characterization, plot and definition of humor.Not only that, but any moral for an ending is put to waste by using a fast escape route to come up with an ending.There was no tension and the final scene was so rudely and painfully constructed that even seeing it on TV, made me feel very insulted that there are much better films to be made.To all the actors that played "LUCY"...forgive the reference to having her name and yourselves in this piece of $hit.I feel sorry for the extras in this film and for the bit players who have to put this on their acting resume.
This film cannot be saved by its cast of some of the top comedians, like Whoopi Goldberg and John Cleese.
It was so hilariously funny, it didn't take but a moment to realize it was a good movie.
Lots of big time stars makes it hilarious and the movie does a great job of introducing all the characters.
After the first viewing, you see it a second time, it's not so funny, and the third, you're just terribly tired of it.The storyline: a billionaire casino owner (John Cleese) decides to hold a race; a race for a bunch of people to try and get to $2 million dollars in Silver City, New Mexico.Among the contestants, the funniest ones played by Amy Smart, Jon Lovitz, and, my personal favorite, John Cleese, who, when he laughs, bares his front teeth like a mad dog.
Smart plays a woman who proves that old saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Lovitz plays a dad who really wants to get that money--and his family wants to come along for the ride.There are funny little side stories for each of the contestants, but as I said, it's only watchable one or two times, then you get really tired of it, and that's that.So I give Rat Race a 3/4..
Not only is this film no better than the crap that's on the midday matinees on TV but it wastes perfectly good talent.John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg.
Judging from the comments above, there must have been two "Rat Race"'s released.There were about forty people in the audience at the version I saw, and one person laughed once because his companion made a funny remark.