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RAT RACE Send This Review to a Friend
Considering the frenetic, high-pitched huffing and puffing efforts at comedy in "Rat Race," it is surprising how few moments are really funny. Shrillness is the order of the day in this gross film that is relentlessly slapstick without the requisite rewards.
A rich casino owner (John Cleese)concocts the idea of choosing an assortment of characters, giving them keys to a locker in another state and offering a fat prize to the one who gets there first. Meanwhile, he has big gamblers assembled secretly to place bets on who wins. Greed takes over as a mad scramble ensues. The set-up, of course, reminds one of Stanley Kramer's 1963 comedy "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," which had a much more illustrious cast.
The stars here include Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Seth Green, John Lovitz, Breckin Meyer and Amy Smart. But this is a film in which even John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson are not as funny as they have been in other assignments. Atkinson provides most laughs because his talent rises above the material. For the rest the straining is embarrassing.
Andy Breckman's script is unrelievedly silly, except for a few comparatively inspired situations, and director Jerry Zucker, also a co-producer, cranks up the action to fever level. But all we get is a mostly moronic romp. A Paramount Pictures release.
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