563 miles. 9 people. $2 million. 1001 problems!|Aug. 17, 2001|Canada|112 Min.|PG-13
Genre: Adventure;Comedy
Description: In the 2001 comedy film *Rat Race*, eccentric billionaire Donald Sinclair creates a unique game to entertain the high rollers at his Las Vegas casino. He organizes a race for six competitors to travel 563 miles (906 km) to Silver City, New Mexico, where $2 million is stashed in a train station locker. Sinclair’s wealthy guests place bets on who will win the race.
The participants include con-artist brothers Duane and Blaine Cody, businesswoman Merrill Jennings and her mother Vera, football referee Owen Templeton, Randy Pear and his family, narcoleptic Italian tourist Enrico Pollini, and no-nonsense attorney Nick Schaffer. Initially reluctant, they eventually give in to greed and begin the chaotic race.
Duane and Blaine sabotage the airport radar, grounding the others but wrecking their own car in the process. They steal another vehicle and split up to improve their odds. They hire a locksmith to make a duplicate locker key, but he overhears their plan and escapes with the key in a hot air balloon. The brothers catch him, leaving him and a stray cow dangling from the balloon’s rope. Later, their car is crushed by a monster truck, which they steal instead.
Merrill and Vera receive misleading directions and crash their car. They then steal a rocket car, but it runs out of fuel, leading them to stumble upon a bus full of mental patients heading to Silver City. Meanwhile, Owen is kicked out of a taxi after a driver blames him for a bad call in a football game. He impersonates the driver of a bus carrying Lucille Ball impersonators but crashes after hitting the dangling cow. Revealing his true identity, he is chased by the angry women but escapes by stealing a horse.
Randy and his family visit a museum about Nazi Klaus Barbie, mistaking it for a Barbie doll exhibit, after their daughter insists. Their car is sabotaged by Duane and Blaine, so they steal Adolf Hitler’s staff car. When Randy’s family demands an end to the trip, he drugs them with sleeping pills and loads them into a semi-truck.
The film is a wild and humorous adventure as the competitors go to extreme lengths to win the $2 million prize.
Cast director: Jerry Zucker
Cast actor: Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, John Cleese, Wayne Knight, Vince Vieluf, Lanei Chapman
Original name: Rat Race