Hey folks, Harry here, and I'm so glad that Viacom Girl saw this one instead of me. She took one for the team. Ouch. Brutal, but she'll recover some day.
Greetings Harry, this is my first time writing a review for the feature film side. Normally I offer my stuff over on the coaxial section of Ain’t It Cool, but in this case I have a feature film review for you. It’s a new comedy called “Rat Race”.
“Rat Race” is directed by Jerry (“Ghost” and “The Naked Gun”) Zucker from a script by Andrew Breckman. While Jerry Zucker is clearly a major comedy player, Breckman clearly isn’t. I checked his list of credits at IMDB and it’s some of the worst alleged comedies in recent memory: “Moving”, “I.Q.”,“Arthur 2 On The Rocks” and “Sergeant Bilko”.
The last two credits are worth noting because one was a sequel to an incredibly funny and beloved comedy, with the latter a limp and lame remake of a classic television show. Breckman’s talent seems to be making you forget the original was ever anything of merit.
“Rat Race” to my surprise is an apparent remake of “It’s AMad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, Stanley Kramer’s 1963 classic that featured an unparallel collection of comedians in both leads and cameos. It’s considered the summit of all-star casts. Kramer’s film was an allegory on modern American greed, in keeping with his status of being a serious “message” filmmaker. “Rat Race”, mostly thanks to Breckman’s uninspired and dumb scripting, lacks teeth and bite. It aspires to “Mad World’s” heights but is closer the “The Cannonball Run” or even that old, faded video rental “The Gumball Rally”. The premise isn’t as intriguing as Kramer’s setup for a mad dash for cash.
In “Rat Race” we have an unscrupulous casino owner, John Cleese, looking to reinvigorate gambling in his hotel since it’s become staid. By having his high rollers bet on the odds involving actual human beings involved in a contest, he hopes to add newfound excitement to the scene as well as increase the wagers.
Cleese’s scheme is to set a group of virtual strangers on a frenzied treasure hunt for hidden money. First off, the majority of laughs that “Rat Race” generates come from Cleese as well as Dave Thomas playing an obsequious lackey. (Since Cleese is a comic genius, as well as a very fine writer, I’m left to wonder how much of his role was comprised of his own improvisation and invention.) Cleese’character functions as the “Spencer Tracy” from “Mad World” in this version, without the dimension and pathos, as he monitors the progress of all the contestants in their mad scramble.
This brings us to the “all star” cast that has been assembled for this sorry “Rat Race”. I think you could call them an “all stars” if they were sitting inside “The Hollywood Squares” but for a major motion picture, especially compared against Kramer’s crew, this is definitely the “C” team of comedy: Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy… I was surprised Martin Short was nowhere to be found. Probably the most successful characters in this assembly are Cuba Gooding Junior, Seth Green and the ever dependable “Mr. Bean” Rowan Atkinson, who essays a “Bean” like persona with a particularly mangled language.
Easily the weakest links in this comedy chain are Jon Lovitz, who portrays what could be the most annoying part in his career of being annoying, as well as the dull Breckin Meyer as the ostensible leading man of the piece. Jerry Zucker is an accomplished comedy director, and most of the intermittent laughs within “Rat Race” are drawn solely from his ability to take Breckman’s tired and unimaginative gags and give them expert comic timing and uniqueness through execution. This is a D- screenplay with an A+ director and it shows.
Not that Zucker is totally without fault, since a lot of the proceedings feel forced and all the actors are guilty of excessive shrieking and mugging. Oddly enough, Whoopi Goldberg sometimes comes off as the most subdued, despite her appearance that makes Guinan from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” look like a Victoria Secretmodel. Silly, obvious gags abound. Since the story takes place within the Las Vegas vicinity and Elvis impersonator jokes have been done to death, Breckman’s “inspiration” is to strand Cuba Gooding Jr. amongst a bunch of Lucille Ball look-alikes. Guess what sound they all make in unison?
There will be undemanding people who will laugh at “Rat Race” and its unoriginal, mostly lowbrow antics, but for those people who love “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” for not just its laughs but the serious underpinnings that the late great Stanley Kramer deftly wove into that slapstick tapestry of his, “Rat Race” is best left viewed on HBO late at night where many will be left wondering if this film was ever originally released in the theaters.
VIACOM GIRL
