Amazon.com: Modeled after 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jerry Zucker's Rat Race lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit Airplane! but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like Mad, Mad, Mad..., it employs a huge ensemble of comedy stalwarts, assembled by an eccentric hotelier (pearly-toothed John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico for a $2 million jackpot. With a backstage gambling subplot, Rowan Atkinson's Italian-geek lunacy, Seth Green's slacker antics, and some nicely understated work from SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas, the movie has almost as many highlights as clunkers, and Zucker's embrace of easy gags and traditional slapstick will tickle anyone's old-fashioned funny bone. Other ingredients are hopelessly stale: Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding's latter-day Stepin Fetchit, "mature" humor that compromises the movie's broad appeal, and the assumption that crashing vehicles are inherently hilarious. Lamentable decisions, perhaps, but Rat Race maintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - "It's a Race, It's a Race ... Zzzzzzzzzzzz"
This is one of those movies that I have seen about a dozen or so times. When I saw it in the movie theater, I nearly busted a gut. It's the kind of humor I love, real slapstick, in the genre of movies ... Read More
Rating: - Love this movie!
I thought it would be just a remake of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", but it is hilarious! Kathy Bates' uncredited cameo as the Squirrel Lady is not to be missed.
Rating: - A race worth running...
I've seen `It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' and loved it, so I was setting myself up for disappointment with `Rat Race'; Zucker's 2001 comedy which drew immense inspiration from the later, but what I found ... Read More
Rating: - Hilarious!
All star cast. Youth and adults alike will enjoy the humor. Very funny!
Rating: - A modern version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
It is boring to be rich. It must be, because the ultra-rich spend their time sitting around and placing bets on bizarre things: how long the serving staff can hold on to the curtain rod before letting go, ... Read More
- "It's a Race, It's a Race ... Zzzzzzzzzzzz"
- A modern version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."