Rat Race ** (2002, John Cleese, Cuba Gooding Jr, Seth Green) – Classic Movie Review 1339

A scheming Las Vegas casino magnate, hotel-casino owner John Cleese, starts a fun race to New Mexico to collect $2million, prompting a bumbling group of no-hopers to set off a cross-continent dash to reach the dosh.

Cleese plays Donald P. Sinclair, who has placed six gold coins in different slot machines in his casino. The lucky six who find the coins get the chance of a lifetime to win the $2million. The six contestants must now race each other to be first to the cash as six teams race the 563 miles from Cleese’s casino to the train station at Silver City, New Mexico, where a storage locker contains a duffel bag filled with $2million. The first team to reach the locker wins the money.

Director Jerry Zucker‘s quirky, wayward 2002 British comedy is amusing enough and provides quite a few big laughs, though not all of its continuous succession of sight gags are funny or work properly. And Andy Breckman‘s screenplay, derivative of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Scavenger Hunt, is often blunt instead of incisive and sometimes lacks wit. The performances of a welcome and very good comedy cast are appealing and eager to please but none too subtle and all a bit slapdash.

Cuba Gooding Jr, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Whoopi Goldberg, Dean Cain and Seth Green also star. Rowan Atkinson as narcoleptic Enrico, Wayne Knight as medical transport van driver Zack Mallozzi, Jon Lovitz as irresponsible tourist Randy Pear, and Kathy Najimy as his wife Bev are excellent in the ensemble cast, raising solid laughs.

The climax was filmed at the restored train station at East Ely, Nevada, as Silver City has no station.

Director Zucker’s late mother, Charlotte, appears as one of the Lucille Ball impersonators.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1339

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