RAT RACE
US, 2001, 112 minutes, Colour.
John Cleese, Dave Thomas, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, John Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson, Seth Green, Kathy Bates, Dean Cain.
Directed by Jerry Zucker.
Rat Race is one of those treasure hunt films with a twist. It was done in the 70s in such films as Scavenger Hunt with Richard Benjamin.
This is a raucous kind of comedy, particularly American. However, while it is corny at times, it does have some very funny moments as well.
John Cleese, with false protruding and shiny teeth, is a wealthy Las Vegas casino owner who sets up this treasure hunt but, unbeknownst to the people on the hunt, it is a front for a big betting racket.
A group of unlikely people find a gold coin in the slot machines and are invited to assemble to go on the hunt. They include an honourable young man played by Breckin Meyer who later encounters a helicopter pilot, Amy Smart. John Lovitz and Kathy Najimy are on holidays with their two children. Seth Green is a rogue and is travelling with his brother (who has an impediment because he has a stud in his tongue). Whoopi Goldberg is a brash woman finding her daughter, and discovering her to be very bossy. Rowan Atkinson portrays an Italian – and thus is able to do an exact Mr Bean, Italian style. Cuba Gooding portrays a football referee who made a mistake – and many people lost money on the match and are after him. Paul Rodriguez is a taxi driver, who is vengeful and lands him in the desert.
There are various amusing episodes along the way. Kathy Bates turns up as a woman selling squirrels out in the desert and wreaking vengeance on those who don’t buy one. Taking a cue from Springtime for Hitler in Germany and The Producers, John Lovitz and Kathy Najimy find that they go to the Barbie museum only to find that it is for Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, and there is some ironic comedy in the tour of the museum. However, when they give the finger accidentally to some strong female bikies, they are attacked and Lovitz finds himself with a false moustache – as they go into a meeting of veterans of the wars and he tries to explain himself, a parody of Hitler’s speech. Cuba Gooding has a busful of Lucille Ball look-alikes going to an I Love Lucy convention. Rowan Atkinson meets up with Wayne Knight who is transporting a heart to El Paso – and, needless to say, the heart is the topic for a lot of slapstick comedy.
The film was directed by Jerry Zucker, one of the people responsible for the Flying High (Airplane) series and also directed Top Secret, the King Arthur story, First Knight, as well as the always popular Ghost.
The film has a moralising ending as all the winners of the money decide to share it – especially after finding themselves crashing into a live show for aid for orphans. They are able then to trick the casino owner into matching the donations made by the media audience.
1.An entertaining raucous comedy? The idea of the treasure hunt? The impossible odds? The misadventures on the way? Audiences identifying in imagining themselves looking for the money?
2.The settings, the casinos in Las Vegas, the affluent rooms, the boardrooms, the betting rooms? The contrast with being out in the desert, on the way to New Mexico, by bus, car, balloon, helicopter, train …?
3.The humour of the film: slapstick, the situations, the caricature characters? The misadventures: Enrico and the heart, his narcolepsy? The Pear family and the cars, the Barbie museum, the veterans meeting and the father looking like Hitler? The woman selling the squirrels in the desert? The I Love Lucy characters and the bus? The brothers and the airport, the car on the tower, the balloon?
4.The theme of greed, people’s motivations, the explanation of the treasure hunt, their hesitation, the sudden rush, down the stairs, going to the airport, sabotaging the planes? Stealing cars? The father deceiving his family, putting them to sleep? The two women and their being stranded in the desert? The referee and the taxi driver abandoning him? The hot air balloon and the man overhearing?
5.The characters:
- The casino owner, his teeth, the John Cleese style, his clients, the betting?
- His assistant, his being born without a personality, the incident with the prostitute, the irony of his demands, the double irony that it was the subject of a bet? The triple irony in his taking her to Silver City and her taking the money and causing the final chaos and chase?
- Rowan Atkinson, his Mr Bean style, the Italian style, going to sleep, his enjoyment of the race, getting taxis, the lift with the man transporting the heart, the misadventures with the heart, the search, the suggestion that they kill a drifter, his escape by jumping into the train?
- Vera, Whoopi Goldberg’s look, searching for her daughter, the daughter being bossy on the phone, the bonds, their going on the hunt, the car, Vera wanting to be kind, the daughter not, the woman selling the squirrels, her directions, the crash-landing into all the other cars who’d not bought squirrels? Gradually getting to Silver City?
- The young man, honourable, the whim and his putting the coin in the slot, getting the coin, not wanting to go on the chase, talking with the young woman, chatting, discovering she was a pilot, going on the helicopter with her, her looking at her boyfriend in the tub with another girl, her zooming down on him, the crash? Trying to get the repairs done in the desert, their being taken for five hundred dollars? His change of attitude?
- The Pear family, John Lovitz’s comedy, Kathy Najimy? The two children? The fighting, the holiday, going in the car, the girl wanting to go to the toilet and toilet jokes? The police stopping them? The Barbie museum, the Nazi explanations? The women bikies, mistakenly giving them the finger, the crash? Lovitz looking like Hitler, his trying to explain to the veterans? The parody of Hitler? His putting the family to sleep?
- Cuba Gooding as the referee, everybody down on him? The taxi driver, taking him to the airport, the planes going out, his being stranded in the desert, finding the bus, persuading the driver to give him the clothes, the Lucy look-alikes, their behaviour, the bus rolling over, his getting his way to Silver City?
6.The brothers, the airport and ruining the radar, the car on the side of the tower, stealing cars, the plan to separate, the key-maker overhearing, going on the balloon, the rope, hitting the cows, the cow hitting the car? The brother and his finding the girls, attractive?
7.The chase, opening the locker, the money not there, the assistant and the prostitute taking the money, the pursuit, the cow landing on the car?
8.The chase, going into the studio, the financial appeal, the decision of most of them to give their money, the young man and his refusal, his being pressurised? The ploy in getting the casino owner to match the donations, his frustrations and his clients?
9.The speech, the emotional appeal, charity? The happy ending – and everybody singing and all the contestants leaping into the crowd? A crowd-pleaser – with a benevolent message?
