A very loose remake of the classic multi-star comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), this madcap comedy is directed by
Jerry Zucker, one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team and director of
Ghost (1990).
John Cleese stars as an eccentric casino owner who devises a contest pitting six teams against each other in a race to claim two million dollars from a locker in New Mexico. The competitors are Owen (Cuba Gooding Jr., who ends up driving a bus full of
Lucille Ball imitators, a foreigner (
Rowan Atkinson) who hitches a ride in an organ donor vehicle, and a recently reunited mother and daughter (
Whoopi Goldberg and Lanei Chapman) who anger a "squirrel lady" (
Kathy Bates) -- much to their regret. There are also two con artist brothers (
Seth Green and Vince Vieluf), the upright Nick (
Breckin Meyer), who gets a lift from cute but psychotic pilot Tracy (
Amy Smart), and the eccentric Pear family, headed up by
Jon Lovitz. Rat Race also stars
Dave Thomas,
Kathy Najimy,
Wayne Knight,
Dean Cain, and
Paul Rodriguez. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide