rat race ( 2001 ) 3 stars out of 4 . starring rowan atkinson , lanai chapman , john cleese , whoopi goldberg , cuba gooding jr . , seth green , jon lovitz , breckin meyer , kathy najimy , amy smart , dave thomas and vince vieluf . screenplay by andy breckman . directed by jerry zucker . rated pg-13 . if you want some hearty laughs , then rat race is the movie for you . this unpretentious little comedy , which sneaks into theaters today with very little hype , will have you bouncing in your theater seat . and while the film fits neatly into the low-brow , slapstick school of comedy , one refreshing aspect is its lack of mean-spiritedness . the plot follows a group of people chosen at random by an eccentric las vegas casino owner ( john cleese ) who must race from vegas to a bus station locker 700 miles away in silver city , n . m . inside the locker is a duffel bag containing $2 million . the first one to open the locker , gets the bag and the money . what the group of participants doesn't know is that cleese's donald sinclair ( " i can do anything i want - i'm eccentric ! " ) is staging the race as a betting game for a group of high rollers at the hotel . the participants include vera ( whoopi goldberg ) and merrill ( lanai chapman ) , a newly reunited mother and daughter ; disgraced pro football referee owen templeton ( cuba gooding jr . ) ; italian tourist mr . pollini ( rowan atkinson ) ; randy pear ( jon lovitz ) and his family ; the bumbling con men duane and blaine cody ( seth green and vince vieluf ) ; and cynical young lawyer nick shaffer ( breckin meyer ) . various amusing encounters and mishaps befall the participants en route to silver city . screenwriter andy breckman adds a nice touch by not having the racers try to sabotage one another . the most side-splitting situations involve vera and merrill's encounter with the squirrel lady , a nice nutsy cameo by kathy bates ; owen's commandeering a charter bus full of lucille ball look-alikes on their way to a lucy convention ; the cody brothers misadventures with a hot-air balloon , a flying cow and a monster truck ; and the pear family's stopover at a barbie museum , which turns out not to be what they think it is . the pear family situation is a fine example of the way breckman's script builds the laughs . without going into detail , this bit segues from the museum to hitler's touring car , to eva braun's dark lipstick , to lovitz burning his tongue , culminating at a ceremony honoring world war ii veterans . rat race's cast is first rate . cleese is wonderfully devilish and madcap ; lovitz is , at first , a bit whiny , but his character grows on you ; gooding is having a fine romp ; and dave thomas almost steals the show as cleese's deadpan assistant , a man " born without a personality . " the film is directed by jerry zucker , who knows something about comedy . along with his brother , david , and friend jim abrahams , he was responsible for such hits as airplane ! and ruthless people . a throwaway subplot , which is good for some laughs , features cleese and his buddies , betting on a series of outlandish situations , including one dealing with a hooker and pepto-bismol . this is a fun little feature . the only letdown comes at the finale , which is too touchy-feely and sweet , almost negating what came before it . rat race is a summer sleeper , but it will keep you awake , as will the laughter of those watching around you . bob bloom is the film critic at the journal and courier in lafayette , in . he can be reached by e-mail at <a href= " mailto : bloom@journal-courier . com " >bloom@journal-courier . com</a> or at <a href= " mailto : bobbloom@iquest . net . " >bobbloom@iquest . net . </a> other reviews by bloom can be found at www . jconline . com by clicking on golafayette . bloom's reviews also can be found on the web at the internet movie database : <a href= " http : //www . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? bob + bloom " >http : //www . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? bob + bloom</a> 
