Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoRat Race
December 23rd 2006 08:47
It's got a cheesy look about it, and it's clearly a supposedly 'whacky comedy' much in the vein of those late 70s/early 80s madcap chase films ala 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'.
The plot is simple; various people, from all sorts of walks of life, are sent on a cross-country race to claim a prize of $2 million. There isn't much more to it than that, each 'contestant' comes across various obstacles on the way whilst a Las Vegas tycoon (John Cleese) and his rich cronies hold bets on who will win. It's a (brace yourself) ensemble piece in the most classical way, being that no character is particularly given any more screen time than another, and that no character is any more or less sympathetic than another (with the possible exception of the Cleese's character being an absolute arsehole).
I'm not gonna bag this film (though it would be quite easy to do) because I think it's great to see that films like this can still be made. The cast features a great cross-section of talent (Seth Green, Rowan Atkinson, Wayne Knight [Seinfeld's Newman], Whoopi Goldberg and Jon Lovitz, just to name some) and all fulfil their roles more than adequately. The jokes don't always work, but it's a style of comedy that doesn't get much of a run these days, so most of the time it's at least amusing as opposed to out-and-out hilarious.
Basically, it's a fun ride. Be entertained by the witty collection of characters and what they come up against.
HIGHLIGHTS: Personally, I found the busload of 'I Love Lucy' fans to be a crackup. John Cleese stands out as the flippant and greedy money-man.
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