Movie Reviews: Rat Race
   
 



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Studio:
     Paramount (90 min.)
Plot:
     An all-star cast proves just how far people will go for the chance to win $2 million.
Cast:
     Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rowan Atkinson and Jon Lovitz
Rating:
     PG-13
Bottom Line:
     **1/2

Coverage:

OK. Can we establish the fact that director Jerry Zucker and writer Andy Breckman’s "Rat Race" is a poor man’s rip-off of 1960s classic "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and the "Cannonball Run" movies of the 70s?" And while most film critics will probably find it reeks with bad taste, I must confess that I laughed throughout the movie. So, I guess it’s going down on my list of guilty pleasures.

Oscar-winners Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr. lead an all-star cast of wayward Las Vegas gamblers who enter a $2 million prize race from Nevada to New Mexico which is organized by a wealthy, thrill-addicted casino owner played by John Cleese.

The contestants consist of a squabbling family, a disgraced NFL referee (Gooding), an estranged mother (Goldberg) and daughter (Lanai Chapman), a young lawyer (Breckin Meyer) a pair of inept brothers (Seth Green and Vince Vieluf) and a clumsy narcoleptic (Rowan Atkinson).

"Rat Race," although it’s clunky and lame at times, actually manages to cram as many antics and hijinx as humanly possibly into 90 minutes. Gooding trapped on a tour bus with Lucille Ball imitators, Goldberg and Chapman joy riding across the Salt Flats in a rocket car, and Jon Lovitz taking his family to the Barbie museum (which has nothing to do with the famous dolls) are more than enough for me to recommend this film.

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