| Rat Race (Special Collector's Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Jerry Zucker
Actors: Breckin Meyer, Jenica Bergere, Cuba Gooding Jr., Carrie Diamond, Douglas Haase
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $0.53
You Save: $9.45 (95%)
New (56) Used (112) Collectible (4) from $0.53
Avg. Customer Rating:  295 reviews
Sales Rank: 3180
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 112
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: PARD336844D
ISBN: 0792174976
UPC: 097363368441
EAN: 9780792174974
ASIN: B00005RYLX
Theatrical Release Date: August 17, 2001
Release Date: January 29, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Movie disc only! We liquidate dvds from a large national rentailer. Movie disc works fine and we'll ship it in a protective sleeve for you. There is a 15% chance that it may contain a rental sticker on the disc that we were unable to remove. In stock and ships today.
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Product Description
The laughs roll from start to finish when a group of crazed contestants compete for $2 million in a no-rules winner-takes-all race. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/11/2006 Starring: Rowan Atkinson Whoopi Goldberg Run time: 112 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jerry Zucker
Amazon.com
Modeled after 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jerry Zucker's Rat Race lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit Airplane! but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like Mad, Mad, Mad..., it employs a huge ensemble of comedy stalwarts, assembled by an eccentric hotelier (pearly-toothed John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico for a $2 million jackpot. With a backstage gambling subplot, Rowan Atkinson's Italian-geek lunacy, Seth Green's slacker antics, and some nicely understated work from SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas, the movie has almost as many highlights as clunkers, and Zucker's embrace of easy gags and traditional slapstick will tickle anyone's old-fashioned funny bone. Other ingredients are hopelessly stale: Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding's latter-day Stepin Fetchit, "mature" humor that compromises the movie's broad appeal, and the assumption that crashing vehicles are inherently hilarious. Lamentable decisions, perhaps, but Rat Race maintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 290 more reviews...
 "It's a Race, It's a Race ... Zzzzzzzzzzzz" July 22, 2008
This is one of those movies that I have seen about a dozen or so times. When I saw it in the movie theater, I nearly busted a gut. It's the kind of humor I love, real slapstick, in the genre of movies like "Airplane" or "Vacation". Completely goofy and entertaining with a fun cast who really pull off a very entertaining movie.
I owned Rat Race in VHS and am now in the process of replacing it on DVD. There are not many movies I have replaced in this manner -- but this one is just mindless entertainment. And sometimes you really need that.
If you are seeking a good laugh, nothing deep or inspirational ... just downright funny. Grab this one. It's great! :)
Love this movie! July 21, 2008
I thought it would be just a remake of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", but it is hilarious! Kathy Bates' uncredited cameo as the Squirrel Lady is not to be missed.
A race worth running... April 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've seen `It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' and loved it, so I was setting myself up for disappointment with `Rat Race'; Zucker's 2001 comedy which drew immense inspiration from the later, but what I found was a delightful comedy that surpassed my expectations and can stand on it's own, apart from the original. Sure, there are some drawbacks, but to me those drawbacks are few and far-in-between.
The film revolves around a random group of people who are given the chance to win two-million dollars. All they have to do is be the first ones to find it. Obsessive gambler Donald Sinclair is tired of betting on the same things all the time and thus, together with his wealthy gambling friends, surmise to bet on which of these individuals will find the money first. It's a sport to them; they don't care really if they win or lose, it's just fun. For the people on the other end though, the race is not for fun, it is for greed and that greed makes for some hilarious comedy.
The cast is teaming with true comedic talent, from Jon Lovitz to Whoopi Goldberg to Seth Green and these comics truly make the most of their performances. In fact, the movie only proves stale when the `non-comics' are infesting the screen. I'm not a huge fan of Cuba Gooding Jr. (although I loved his Oscar winning performance in `Jerry Maguire') and I found him rather dull here. I also found Breckin Meyer to be miscast and out of place. Amy Smart handles her performance well enough, but she's not all that memorable (except maybe her insane helicopter scene; but that was all scripting). Goldberg, Lovitz, Cleese and especially Green all deliver with flying colors though and make up for some dead weight.
There are so many memorable scenes I'm just chomping at the bit to list them all but I don't want to give too much away or spoil anyone's enjoyment of the film if they have yet to see it. I'll just say this; watch out for the `Nazi Museum' and the hilarity that ensues; keep an eye out for Kathy Bates HILARIOUS cameo and be prepared to wet yourself when Seth Green and Vince Vieluf attempt to keep a few planes grounded.
My biggest problem with `Rat Race' is the ending. It just doesn't sit right with me. It's not bad and it tries to be all morally correct or whatever but I just don't like it. Oh well, it's a small issue really when you look at the broader scope of comedy that fills this film. It's not a profound and or `mature' comedy, but it's chuck-full of gags that land and jokes that tickle the audience's funny bone.
Hilarious! February 24, 2008
All star cast. Youth and adults alike will enjoy the humor. Very funny!
 A modern version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." December 29, 2007
It is boring to be rich. It must be, because the ultra-rich spend their time sitting around and placing bets on bizarre things: how long the serving staff can hold on to the curtain rod before letting go, how much a call girl will charge for participating in a bizarre bath, who will throw up first, and last, in a rocking Lear jet, and... the point of this slap-stick movie... which of a handful of "ordinary" people can make the trip to New Mexico from Las Vegas first and collect the $2 million waiting in a luggage locker.
Let the race begin.
This is not high drama, or even quality entertainment. However, you can't help but laugh when the jeep goes up instead of the radar coming down, a busload of Lucys are crying, and the WWII veterans reunion is interrupted.
Consider this light entertainment, for the time you really need a chuckle or two.
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