*** Official "RAT RACE" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

well about 6 weeks ago i saw a poster for a movie called rat race at a local theater.
so my first thought without ever having heard about this movie and going by the poster that had many people running, i'm wondering when they decided to do a remake of mad mad mad mad world.
has anybody seen this movie yet as a preview?
whats the deal.
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"I Meant Ass Whiplash."-----BENDER

Something about a cross country race to win money or something. If you ask me it looks really stupid.
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Gee, I hope this doesn't lower your opinion of me

It looks to me more like a remake of Cannonball Run than Mad World. If it is a Mad World remake, it's disappointing in terms of it's star power. A good Mad World remake should attract the top comedic talent around: Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Mike Myers, etc.
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13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

They do say that it is a mad,mad,mad,mad world remake. And in that aspect, the star power is lacking.

Are you kidding me? This looks hilarious. What could be better than Rowan Atkinson getting hit by a bus...even if he does survive.

I just ran through all my movie news sites to find the article, but I couldn't: There was a little blurb some time last week stating that Rat Race is not considered any kind of "official" remake of IAMMMMW.
To me it looks more like a remake of Million Dollar Mystery. You know, that old junkpile that was sponsored by a garbage bag company?
I do dig slapstick though, so I'll probably be seeing this one.
Oh wait I found it:
(7/25/01) Jeffrey Wells of Reel.com reports that officially, this film is not a remake of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, because MGM still holds the rights to such a project. It just looks and sounds a lot like one.
The above is from UpcomingMovies.com and you can read more about it
here.
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Scott
TheAngryJew's Movie Reviews at HBS.com
AOL IM: ScottFromPhilly
[Edited last by Scott Weinberg on August 01, 2001 at 11:48 AM]

I saw it a couple of weeks ago, just haven't been motivated to write a review because I had pretty mixed feelings about it.
I've never seen IAMMMMW, so I would have to call it similar to Cannonball Run or a Vacation movie. It has some cool 60's style animated opening titles which I was happy to see. Movies hardly ever have interesting opening titles anymore.
Premise is that John Cleese sets up a race with a cast of characters. They'll race from Vegas 500 odd miles to a train station in New Mexico where $2M has been put in a locker. Little do they know that Cleese has also assembled a bunch of rich tycoons to bet on the outcome of the race. Of course on the way each character has various encounters and mishaps.
Anyway, it starts slow because of the giant cast of charaters to introduce. Once Cleese gets everybody together and explains the game and the race begins though, it does have a fair amount of genuine laughs. They mostly involve Jon Lovitz and Mr. Bean, so if you're not a fan of their schtick you really might want to stay away. Also some very funny stuff with Dave what's his name from "Strange Brew" who plays Cleese's assistant. But it also has the requisite tired body fluid humor and cow jokes.
However the ending is a complete trainwreck. It feels like a piece of too many cooks corporate BS, something Paramount is notorious for, but what ever happened, this is one of the most abysmal ways of ending a movie I've had the misfortune to experience.
Finally be warned, this movie manages to use both "Who Let The Dogs Out" and "All-Star" which I believe I've now heard in no less than a dozen movies.
To sum up, I'd say that it was funny at times, but I don't know how much money I'd recommend paying to see it.
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"It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen"
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No star power? No star power?
I can see the trailer now.
Academy award winner, Whoopi Goldberg. . .
Academy award winner, Cuba Gooding, Jr. . . .
Academy award winner, Kathy Bates. . .
in a delightful romp. . . .

This may end up being a funny movie, but the trailer is aimed squarely at drooling, monosyllabic morons.
Cuba Gooding Jr. screaming in terror because Lucy is really a man? Why is that funny? Is that really in the movie, or is he screaming at something else, and they've cut the trailer to make it look like he is, to appeal to the lowest common, homophobic, denominator?
I dunno, I've seen this trailer half a dozen times, and based on it, it's looks about as appealing as Snow Day.

"Cuba Gooding Jr. screaming in terror because Lucy is really a man? Why is that funny? Is that really in the movie, or is he screaming at something else, and they've cut the trailer to make it look like he is, to appeal to the lowest common, homophobic, denominator?"
The last one. I just saw an ad, him and Lucy are screaming because there's a cow flying into the bus. Ahhh, cows...what would our gross-out comedies be like without you?
I was (surprisingly) excited when I first saw the commercial for this. It has Jon Lovitz and Rowan Atkinson (in a non-Bean role, which can be a plus sometimes) in what looks to be an okay comedy. Although, I'm starting to think I can wait for the rental...
[Edited last by Ryan Donovan on August 02, 2001 at 01:51 PM]
[Edited last by Ryan Donovan on August 08, 2001 at 10:12 AM]

Yes, both are in the movie and yes he's screaming because she's a man.
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"It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen"
S&S Challenge: 72 ...25
DVD BEAVER

My DVD Collection

I saw this the other day and thought it was funny. Maybe worth Daytime ticket price. There are some very funny moments that I thought were quite original. It won't win any "turn your brain on" rewards but I think its just a fun movie. Just let yourself go, relax, and go see it.
Stefan Antwarg

The film has Rowan Atkinson... my best friend and I are there in a heartbeat.
This is one of my "anticipated" films of August (along with American Pie 2 and what will be the greatest film of 2001, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), but then again, not that many good films come out in August, and I'm one out of like four people at this forum who really wants to see this film.
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"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule."

Breckin Meyer
Amy Smart
Whoopi Goldberg
Seth Green
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Jon Lovitz
Kathy Najimy
Rowan Atkinson
John Cleese
Dave Thomas
Wayne Knight
Kathy Bates
Dean Cain
Not star studded? Try and tell me that isn't STAR STUDDED! It's like, the best week of Hollywood Squares ever! It just needs Gilbert Gottfried and it's set.
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...and here are a couple of reviews of the movie...
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This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Rat Race". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
All HTF member film reviews of "Rat Race" should be posted to this thread .
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Crawdaddy
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[Edited last by Robert Crawford on August 16, 2001 at 05:59 PM]

well i finally saw this movie and ihave to agree with ron when he said, in his reveiw, how could a movie made by one of the zucker bros be so unfunny?

the funniest thing about this movie was the openning credits. they were cleverly done cartoon type caracatures(sp?) of the stars in the movie.

and the gag reel in the extras section.

i'm glad i rented it and didn't buy it.

it was close to mad world because of the race to get money and the ending. but not much else.

i would love to actually talk about the contents of the movie but it was simply a completly forgettable movie that i don't remember much that happened in the movie.

it was a disposable movie.

watch it once and throw it away.