RAT RACE (2001) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Lanai Chapman, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, Kathy Najimy, Amy Smart, Dave Thomas and Vince Vieluf. Screenplay by Andy Breckman. Directed by Jerry Zucker. Rated PG-13.
If you want some hearty laughs, then Rat Race is the movie for you.
This unpretentious little comedy, which sneaks into theaters today with very little hype, will have you bouncing in your theater seat.
And while the film fits neatly into the low-brow, slapstick school of comedy, one refreshing aspect is its lack of mean-spiritedness.
The plot follows a group of people chosen at random by an eccentric Las Vegas casino owner (John Cleese) who must race from Vegas to a bus station locker 700 miles away in Silver City, N.M. Inside the locker is a duffel bag containing $2 million. The first one to open the locker, gets the bag and the money.
What the group of participants doesn't know is that Cleese's Donald Sinclair ("I can do anything I want - I'm eccentric!") is staging the race as a betting game for a group of high rollers at the hotel.
The participants include Vera (Whoopi Goldberg) and Merrill (Lanai Chapman), a newly reunited mother and daughter; disgraced pro football referee Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding Jr.); Italian tourist Mr. Pollini (Rowan Atkinson); Randy Pear (Jon Lovitz) and his family; the bumbling con men Duane and Blaine Cody (Seth Green and Vince Vieluf); and cynical young lawyer Nick Shaffer (Breckin Meyer).
Various amusing encounters and mishaps befall the participants en route to Silver City. Screenwriter Andy Breckman adds a nice touch by not having the racers try to sabotage one another.
The most side-splitting situations involve Vera and Merrill's encounter with the squirrel lady, a nice nutsy cameo by Kathy Bates; Owen's commandeering a charter bus full of Lucille Ball look-alikes on their way to a Lucy convention; the Cody brothers misadventures with a hot-air balloon, a flying cow and a monster truck; and the Pear family's stopover at a Barbie museum, which turns out not to be what they think it is.
The Pear family situation is a fine example of the way Breckman's script builds the laughs. Without going into detail, this bit segues from the museum to Hitler's touring car, to Eva Braun's dark lipstick, to Lovitz burning his tongue, culminating at a ceremony honoring World War II veterans.
Rat Race's cast is first rate. Cleese is wonderfully devilish and madcap; Lovitz is, at first, a bit whiny, but his character grows on you; Gooding is having a fine romp; and Dave Thomas almost steals the show as Cleese's deadpan assistant, a man "born without a personality."
The film is directed by Jerry Zucker, who knows something about comedy. Along with his brother, David, and friend Jim Abrahams, he was responsible for such hits as Airplane! and Ruthless People.
A throwaway subplot, which is good for some laughs, features Cleese and his buddies, betting on a series of outlandish situations, including one dealing with a hooker and Pepto-Bismol.
This is a fun little feature. The only letdown comes at the finale, which is too touchy-feely and sweet, almost negating what came before it.
Rat Race is a summer sleeper, but it will keep you awake, as will the laughter of those watching around you.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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