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 ack
in the 1960s there was a popular string of movies - the big event,
ensemble chase comedy. This long-neglected genre has been revived with Rat
Race, directed by Jerry Zucker, the man behind such hits as Airplane
and My Best Friend's Wedding.With an all-star cast featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Cleese, Jon Lovitz and Dave Thomas, an obvious question would be who among this cast of characters steals the film? Co-producer Sean Daniel says of the film's cast, "Everybody steals this film and that's just what we wanted. They play off each other so well. Everybody is so unique and incredibly comic in his or her own right, and it gets to a whole new level when they're put together." The story starts with Las Vegas casino tycoon Donald Sinclair, who is determined to keep his wealthiest high-rollers happy, so he concocts a new quasi-legal sporting event for them to bet on: a human "rat race." The Rat Racers are six ordinary people, selected at random. Sinclair has put six specially minted gold coins in six different slot machines. Anyone who wins a coin is invited to join the race. |
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The "cheese" is two million
dollars in cash. The money is in a duffel bag in a locker in Silver City,
New Mexico - 700 miles away. The first one there keeps it all. What the
racers don't know is that Sinclair and his gambling-crazed high rollers
are tracking their every move - like a pack of lab rats - and betting on
the outcome. Zucker notes that the racers are all just pawns in a larger scheme. "It's a cast of underdogs," he says. "They all have their own little problems, and they all go through hell hoping that something goes right." Rat Race marks the reunion of Goldberg with Zucker, who directed her Academy Award winning performance in 1990's Ghost. And with Cleese, Lovitz and Thomas, Rat Race features cast members of three of the most revered comedy troupes in television history. Rowan Atkinson, the veteran British comic actor best known for his portrayal of Mr. Bean, plays Pollini, "a relentlessly optimistic and good-natured character," says Atkinson. The role of Pollini, one of the racers, offered the actor the opportunity to display his physical comedy skills. Wayne Knight, the actor best known as Newman on Seinfeld, plays the part of an erratic ambulance driver. "I play the part of Zack," says Knight, "an employee of Lifeline Medical Services, who I gather is not really very good at his job." "What happens is a very simple classical situation," adds Atkinson, "but it is extremely funny. And there's this relationship between Pollini and Zack, where you get this feeling of two teenage boys who should not be let out alone. Something about the way they interact, and they way they egg each other on to do the worst possible things. It's very funny." Continuing a tradition he started with his earlier movies, Zucker's mother Charlotte has a small role in Rat Race. "She's in every movie," explains Zucker. "It's like the Alfred Hitchcock signature. Instead of me, it's mom." - Gerry Young |