Shorewood native Jerry Zucker used to make great comedies. Once upon a time, Zucker served as either writer and/or director on films like "Airplane," "Top Secret," "Ruthless People" and "Naked Gun."
But Zucker's latest movies haven't been comedies or very good. He directed the not-funny "Ghost" in 1990 and the dismal "First Knight" in 1995.
The good news is that Zucker has returned to his comic roots, directing the ensemble slapstick comedy "Rat Race." The bad news is that the movie is embarrassingly awful. It just goes to show you can't have everything.
Centered on a group of hapless morons, "Rat Race" -- a retelling of "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" -- begins by introducing the audience to them. They are family man Randy Pear (Jon Lovitz), young straight arrow Nick Shaffer (Breckin Meyer), NFL referee Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), narcoleptic European Enrico Pollini (Rowan Atkinson), nitwit brothers Duane (Seth Green) and Blaine (Vince Vieluf) Cody and mother and daughter Vera Baker (Whoopi Goldberg) and Merrill Jennings (Lanei Chapman).
Courtesy of a Las Vegas casino's slot machines, each person has been randomly selected to participate in a race being put on by the casino owner and one of the world's richest men, Donald Sinclair (John Cleese).
The rules of the game are simple. In a small New Mexico town some 500 miles from Las Vegas, a bag of $2 million cash sits inside a locker in the town's train station. Each contestant is given a key, and whoever gets the money first wins. That's all there is to it.
The comedy results from the different ways in which the people try to get to the bag of cash. Thanks to the Cody brothers, all flights leaving Las Vegas have been cancelled. This means that everyone has to improvise.
Randy ends up travelling to New Mexico with his wife and two kids. Nick hitches a ride with helicopter pilot Tracy Faucet (Amy Smart). Owen drives a bus full of Lucille Ball impersonators. Enrico hitches a ride with Zack (Wayne Knight), who is driving a heart to Texas for a transplant. Vera and Merrill steal a car designed to break the sound barrier. And the Cody brother's transportation involves a hot air balloon and a flying cow.
Based on the premise and previews, "Rat Race" could have been an entertaining and amusing comedy. It's shocking then that it turns out to be so offensive and laugh-free. Zucker must share the blame, but writer Andrew Breckman is equally responsible.
There is not one likeable character in the movie. They are all either annoying, boring or both. The worst of the bunch is easily Enrico. Atkinson gives one of the worst performances of the year. His voice, facial expressions and mannerisms are like listening to fingernails scratch a chalkboard over and over again.
It doesn't help that the jokes fall flat. The slapstick parts are also painfully unfunny. Any potential for anything to be funny is also killed by the fact that every single joke and sight gag is beaten to death and repeated way too many times.
The worst and most tasteless of the bunch involves Randy and his family. They accidentally visit a Neo Nazi museum in the middle of nowhere. Randy steals Hitler's car and ends up crashing it at a meeting of WWII veterans. There, sporting a Hitler mustache and hairstyle and faux German accent, he proceeds to flip off the veterans! This is supposed to be funny?
Sadly, Zucker has hit rock bottom with "Rat Race." Admittedly, there are a couple of scattered laughs, but they are few and far between. And with a running time of nearly two hours, a no-no for a comedy, the movie is at least fifteen minutes too long. This is one race to avoid.
Grade: D-
"Rat Race" opened everywhere Fri., Aug. 17. Click here for showtimes.
