Review of Rat Race

Introduction

As long as there has been cinema, there has been the chase. From the silent movie era onwards, more and more elaborate scenarios were conceived where people chased people, cars chased cars, cats chased mice on land, sea or in the air. No action movie would be complete without a chase, and ask someone to name their best chase scene, and you`d hear names like Bullitt or The French Connection. But a major genre that has been somewhat neglected in recent years has been the comedy chase movie, the kind of chases that the earliest cinema was renowned for, which usually ended in a custard pie fight somewhere. These culminated in the classic movies of the sixties, usually starring Terry-Thomas and an assorted cast of luminaries. Titles like Monte Carlo or Bust, The Great Race and (taking a deep breath) Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes. The genre reached its peak with It`s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but after that the wilderness years beckoned. The seventies and early eighties turned away from comedy pratfalls and interesting characters, and turned to hi octane stunts and Burt Reynolds of all people. Titles like The Gumball Rally appeared, and The Cannonball Run and Smokey and The Bandit were remade again and again in identikit sequels with ever diminishing returns. By the mid eighties, the comedy chase movie had died an ignominious and unlamented death. But perhaps rumours of its demise were premature, for last year a new comedy chase movie was made, Rat Race. Perhaps this is the movie that will breathe new life into a much-missed genre.

Before I proceed, I should mention that I received the rental version for review, so by necessity I`ll be leaving the Special Features section somewhat vacant. More importantly, the rental version of Rat Race is on a single layer single sided disc, while the retail version is on a dual layer disc. That may imply a potential difference in the quality of the transfer, but that will be for someone else to comment on.

Six varied individuals are in a Las Vegas casino one day when fate drops an opportunity in their laps. A narcoleptic Italian, a straight laced lawyer, a mother who meets her long lost daughter, a con man and his brother, a disgraced football referee and a Jewish man on holiday with his family all have the fortune to win a special token from various fruit machines. When they go to redeem their prize, they meet with eccentric billionaire, Donald Sinclair. Sinclair offers them each a key to a locker in a New Mexico railway station. This locker contains $2 million and winner takes all. The race is soon on, as these people lie, cheat and finagle their way across hundreds of miles to reach the jackpot. Unbeknownst to them, the outcome of the race is itself being bet on by Sinclair and his unscrupulous clientele.

Video

Rat Race gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, and it is a perfectly sharp and colourful image, as you would expect from a film of such recent vintage. The film has some minor specks of dirt that flash on occasion, but this is hardly even worth mentioning. This is a bright vibrant movie, set in sunny Nevada and full of the kind of primary colours that usually grace comedy movies of this genre. The effects vary between the good and the mediocre but in terms of the material, they are always fitting.

Audio

Sound on the rental disc comes in DD 5.1 English only. The surrounds are used effectively when necessary, but this is a typical comedy and the emphasis is more on dialogue, which is always clearly audible (except in the case of Blaine Cody of course). The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of pop music and the occasional classical piece, which usually heralds a particularly funny moment. Even the Baha Men tracks suit this movie well.

Features

The retail disc has deleted scenes and documentaries and all manner of goodies. The rental disc has 4, count them 4 trailers for other movies. I`ll name them if you are particularly interested.

Conclusion

It wasn`t a promising start. There was the kind of animated title sequence that has heralded many a fine and duff comedy movie. Then the first scene has our straight-laced lawyer queuing up to settle his hotel bill. Cue tired and creaky joke about an inflated bill due to excessive viewing of cable porn. Laugh? I nearly smirked. But I was glad I stuck with it, as I found Rat Race full of shiny comedy moments, some of them eye-wateringly hilarious.

The characters are a mix as eclectic as the soundtrack, varying from the brilliant to the tiresome. Strangely, some of Britain`s best talent fares rather poorly in this movie. John Cleese plays Donald Sinclair and displays the wit of Basil Fawlty but with teeth. I don`t mean that the wit is biting, but that he sports a ridiculous pair of pearly white gnashers to make Liberace weep in envy. Rowan Atkinson plays the narcoleptic Italian Enrico Pollini who is basically Mr Bean with an accent. I still find it hard to comprehend how someone who created the comedy gem that is Blackadder is best known in America for the dire Mr Bean. Cuba Gooding Jr plays the disgraced (American) football referee Owen Templeton and gurns his way through a decent enough comedy performance, encountering a Lucy Ball convention on the way. He won an Oscar once, you know. Jon Lovitz is Randy Pear (surely a comedy name par excellence) the head of a Jewish family who insist on accompanying him on the way to New Mexico. On the way they stop off at the daughter`s insistence at the Barbie museum, unfortunately it`s the wrong Barbie. Breckin Meyer is good as the lawyer Nick Schaffer and plays the role with an innocence and ironic charm that surely makes him the heir to Steve Guttenberg (before Police Academy 3). He is picked up on his way to the prize by helicopter pilot, Tracy Faucet who is played by Amy Smart. She does a great line in scorned women and here her righteous fury is turned on Dean Cain. Not so super now, are you bub? But for me the stars of this movie are Seth Green and Vince Vieluf. Green plays conman Duane Cody complete with conman style headwear. Vieluf is his gormless brother Blaine, who had an accident with a self-piercing kit that he tried on his tongue. These two get into the most ridiculous of scrapes in this movie and also the funniest. I had tears in my eyes during the chase in the cow field.

Veteran comedy director Jerry Zucker helms Rat Race with a sure touch. And while I felt that it took a little long to get going, once the action starts, it`s guaranteed to have you smiling all the way through. Like all the best comedies, it isn`t always in the best taste, on the way it mocks those with learning difficulties, has some icky moments with a human heart, and throws in some good old fashioned Nazi humour for effect. It doesn`t matter because it`s all funny. So on the scale of past comedy chase movies, where does Rat Race stand? Well it still isn`t a patch on It`s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but it is infinitely funnier than Smokey & The Bandit 1, 2 or 3. On my scale of comedy chase movies it ranks up there with The Bugs Bunny Road Runner movie. There`s life in the old dog yet.