Search - Rat Race-Dvd (Chk) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 4/14/2023...

The helicopter and monster truck scenes were oh so great!

Barbara F. from MARLBOROUGH, MA
Reviewed on 6/27/2010...

this appears with a funny title when I enter the UPC but it is Rowan Atkinson's Rat Race.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

The previews reek but the movie ROCKS!

Dennis Rosebrough | Atlanta, GA | 08/14/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After seeing the previews, I had *very* low expectations for this movie. A friend who had already bought a ticket for me (without me knowing) dragged me along anyway, and I laughed so hard, I was crying. It's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen--and I've seen a lot of movies! The previews only show the basic premise of the movie (think Cannonball Run) and a few moments taken out of context that just don't do justice to the intricate webs of jokes that turn out to be setups for even more funny moments later.It has a great cast--Jon Lovits, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) just to name a few, and they're all at the best I've ever seen them. Sometimes movies with such a cast of well-known and diverse people, they either 1) don't have the chemistry to work well together or 2) each subdue their "type" of comedy to blend in with the others. Neither is the case in this movie. Each member of the cast totally excels at the kind of comedy they're best at. Atkinson has the zany weird thing going, Green has the physical slapstick thing, Lovits has the lovable neurotic thing, Cleese has the "Now for something totally different" thing...It's also a great family movie. I don't really know why it got the PG-13 rating. There's no bad language, no explicit stuff, very little innuendo, not much violence. There are a few gestures here and there (not of malicious intent; you just have to see it to know what I mean), and it makes fun of Germans, so if you're radically conservative or a very sensitive Jewish person (or German, I suppose), you may be offended.I can't recommend this movie enough. I'm afraid that because of the poor previews and the been-there-done-that premise, not many people will go to see it, and it may end up being one of the all-time highest underrated movies. Trust me, though, this is *not* an I'll-see-it-on-video-or-cable movie, it's one of the few movies out worth the money to see it in the theater!"

Zany screwball comedy is a hit!

D. Litton | Wilmington, NC | 08/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The race is on in "Rat Race," the latest screwball comedy about a group of people given the chance to win two million dollars, depending on who arrives first. The setup is hokey and the jokes run from strained to laugh-out-loud funny, and when the final scene finishes, what you have is a good time at the movies that isn't the most satisfying of all comedies, but is no failure. The film starts out in Las Vegas, where eight people play eight different slot machines and each receive a gold coin as an invitation to a dinner hosted by hotel owner Donald Sinclair (John Cleese). There's the Cody brothers, Blaine (Vince Vieluf) and Duane (Seth Greene), mother/daughter duo Vera (Whoopi Goldberg) and Merrill (Lanei Chapman), play-it-safe Nick (Breckin Meyer), vacationing family dad Randy (Jon Lovitz), former football referree Owen (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), and quirky Enrico (Rowan Atkinson). They are given the offer, and off they go, racing to reach the jackpot before the others can beat them to it. It's a ridiculous setup, of course, but the the jokes are enough to keep the movie at a commendable comedic high rather than drown it in one-liners we've all heard before. There are moments that fail in tickling our funny bone, of course; no comedy is without them. Blaine recently pierced his own tongue, requiring that he speak awkwardly and without coherence at times. This is funny at first, but seems to get old when Duane must re-utter everything he says. But the moments that do work are pure gold, a treasure chest of slapstick gags and humorous jokes that are worth the price of admission. Goldberg and Chapman are a hit as the mother/daughter group who become sidetracked when they decline to purchase a squirrel from roadside vendor Kathy Bates, who guides them in the wrong direction, and off a cliff. Randy and his family are a complete knockout when they arrive at a Barbie museum, only to discover that it is run by Nazis who have ruined their van. In turn, they steal Adolf Hitler's car, and the results are side-splitting. Cuba Gooding, Jr. proves his worth in a comical film as Owen, who made a bad call in his last football game and keeps running into people who recognize him. His adventure lands him on a tour bus filled with Lucille Ball look-alikes on their way to an "I Love Lucy" convention. I was surprised most especially by how funny he can be; his mark as a great actor is his ability to play drama and comedy to perfection. The real stars of the show are Rowan Atkinson, who is delectably goofy and wired-up as Enrico. His bouts of narcolepsy cause him to come to sudden halts for long periods of sleep, while his miscomprehension of the English language hits home. When he hitches a ride with a medic transporting a vital donor organ for transplant, at all goes downhill for them, with wacky results. In closing, "Rat Race" is not a movie you pick apart for plot development and story coherence. It barely seems to matter, and if you try to look for them, you miss out on the laughs, the fun, and the comedy in one of the funniest films of the summer season."

A Rollercoaster of Laughs

Matthew Gladney | Champaign-Urbana, IL USA | 08/12/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"'Rat Race' is a zany little comedy with many big name stars, and jokes that are sometimes good, sometimes just o.k. For the most part, it is a pretty funny film, and there is probably something that most people will find adequately comedic about it. The movie starts out in a Las Vegas hotel/casino. Whilst playing the slot machines, 8 people find a coin which directs them to a secret meeting with the hotel/casion owner. He informs them that some 500 miles away, in Silver City, New Mexico, is a train station. Inside that station is a locker, and inside that locker is $2,000,000. They are all given a key, and told to "go" - whoever gets there first winning the money. The race is on, and the hotel/casino owner is keeping a watchful eye on them, as he is also taking bets as to who the winner will be. Each of the people who are in the race take different modes of transport to get to the desired location. This makes for the bulk, and the most hilarious portion, of the film. Along the way, there are jokes and running gags to do with Nazis, Lucille Ball impersonators, a crazy squirrel merchant, and more. Much of the humor is accessible and makes you laugh, or at least chuckle. Some of the humor, however, is rather crude. I still found it funny, but be warned: If you are disdainful of certain jokes whose basis lies in bodily functions, human organ dis-respect, abuse of animals, or anything along those lines - then this is *not* the movie for you. All of the aforementioned jokes, though they sound bad, are actually handled well (as well as can be expected), but they *do* make up a substantial portion of the film. Many of the talents used in 'Rat Race' include Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson (re-using many aspects of his Mr. Bean persona), Cuba Gooding, Jr., Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, and a plethora of others. There are a few surprises, and the movie takes a lot of unexpected, very funny turns. This is a screwball comedy which simply wants to make you laugh for a couple of hours. It is fluff, but fluff in the best possible sense. Quite enjoyable. I left the cinema with a smile on my face."