 Movie
Reviews
with Andy Gough
Rat Race
Directed by Jerry Zucker
 'I can do anything I want to. I'm eccentric!' - Donald Sinclair (John Cleese).
Las Vegas casino tycoon Donald Sinclair (John Cleese) is determined to keep his wealthiest high rollers happy, so he concocts a new, quasi-legal sporting event for them to bet on: a human 'rat race'.
The Rat Racers are six 'ordinary' people, (including Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Seth Green, Jon Lovitz and Breckin Meyer) selected at random: Sinclair has put six specially minted gold coins in six different slot machines. Anyone who wins a coin is invited to join the race.
The 'cheese' is $2 million in cash. The money is in a duffel bag, in a locker in Silver City, New Mexico - 700 miles away. The first one there bags it all. 'There's only one rule: there are no rules!' Sinclair declares.
What our racers don't know is that Sinclair and his gambling-crazed high rollers are tracking them - like a pack of lab rats - and betting on the outcome.
Despite being a product from the mind of the great Jerry Zucker, creator of the Flying High genre of slapstick, and gag-a-minute hilarity that went on to such heights as Top Secret and seemingly endless sequels from Leslie Nielsen's Police Squad spoofs, this film barely offered a chuckle. Zucker's material has become corny and hackneyed.
Rat Race was light on the usual visual gags, relying on the actors to carry the show. The characters pretty much play themselves, although the rubber-faced Atkinson as an Italian? That's right, visualise an Italian Mr Bean! Jon Lovitz and John Cleese get some nice moments to shine.
The opening animated credit sequence was clever and basically that's where they should have stopped. The ensuing race/chase itself however, was pretty uninspired and formulaic with predictable gags and misfortunes - especially the poor cow. The racers travel by plane, train, helicopter, foot, bus... They cheat, they lie, and sabotage each other.
Fortunately the whole mean spirited contest comes unstuck at the end. And it's probably no surprise that Sinclair gets his comeuppance.
Touching, certainly, but overall not particularly memorable or funny, considering the obvious talent involved. What went wrong, Jerry?
Rating: 1 ½ stars
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