Rat Race Movie Review 2001

Eccentric Las Vegas casino tycoon Cleese sends six ordinary gamblers on a treasure hunt for two million bucks while rich gamblers wager on the outcome. It's all in the tradition of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and the "Cannonball Run" movies, which means it's also old-fashioned. But in that good, solidly funny, anything-for-a-laugh way. But it doesn't go for the cheap, bodily-function humor that so many recent comedies have done to death. The mostly B-list cast has a lot of fun with the material, which is well-paced and expertly carried out by writer Breckman and director Zucker, who thankfully returns to the zany wall-to-wall comedy that put him on the map.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 92 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Viva Las Vegas!, Road Trip, Gambling, Treasure Hunt, Grand Theft Auto

Screenplay

Andy Breckman

Cast

John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Seth Green, Kathy Najimy, Rowan Atkinson, Wayne Knight, Dean Cain, Vince Vieluf, Lanei Chapman, Paul Rodriguez

Cinematography

Thomas Ackerman

Director

Jerry Zucker

Music

John Powell

Other

Jeff Wexler, David Ronne, Doug Johnston, Bonnie Greenberg-Goldman, Tom Lewis, Doug Byggdin, Seth Reed, Ellen Mirojnick, Gary Frutkoff

Producer

Jerry Zucker, Sean Daniel, Janet Zucker, Fireworks Pictures, Alphaville, Paramount Pictures