Rat Race (Special Collector's Edition)

Buy This Item Rat Race (Special Collector's Edition) by Paramount  Available from Amazon  $9.99  on 11-25-2008     Modeled after 1963's <I>It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World</I>, Jerry Zucker's <I>Rat Race</I> lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit <I>Airplane!</I> but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like <I>Mad, Mad, Mad</I>, 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 <I>Rat Race</I> maintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit. <I>--Jeff Shannon</I> Reader Reviews Love the movie! You have to see it several times to really get every detail. It's also much more fun to watch it with at least three people.

Rat Race (Special Collector's Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $9.99 Updated on 11-25-2008.

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