This is topic Rat Race in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 08-17-2001, 06:17 PM:
Saw this one last night with three others in a Mid-Sized SRD auditorium. Sound was good, turned up the fader for the Smash Mouth concert at the end (more on the ending in a bit), technically it was great, except for the corny opening sequence.As for the movie itself, I wasn't impressed, but I was entertained. The movie has some really good (not great) actors in some fair roles that kind of showcase their talent. I especially liked John Cleese for the short parts of the movie he was in. Rowan Atkinson was funnier as Mr. Bean, but he's a standout among this cast. I thought that the humor was pretty forced (come on, just finding, getting into, and being told how to run a rocket car?). I did find the whole Hitler Car sequence to be hilarious, and the Lucys were another bright spot. Overall, the movie is funny enough (Zucker did better with the Naked Gun & Airplane), but for having the broad range of characters that it has, it really doesn't get into the characters as much as it could. (But hey, there's 2 million dollars involved, there's no time for character!) The ending is the low point. It goes for a please-all nice resolution in that tries to satisfy the whole audience. It makes sense, but where's the comedy in it that we saw during the movie? It isn't right to put all of those characters & their experiences in the closet in order to extend the soundtrack! By the way, I will mute any more appearances of "All Star" in any future movies for the next five years!! (It was officially overused on Shrek)
My reccomendation: Go se it if you don't demand a lot of logic or if you've never seen Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 08-19-2001, 03:09 AM:
But if you have had seen MMMMW I hope the theater that you are in have loveseats so you can pass right the F**K out. Can we all say loudly together "Piece of Shit Rip OFF?" Grrr. If you are going to redo a movie please do it well. 
Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 08-19-2001, 11:52 PM:
I actually did see MMMMW a while back & there is no contest between the two. You can't find a good group of today's actors to redo a classic.
Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 09-11-2001, 02:23 AM:
or shall we say "rip a classic to shreds and lose the comedy?" come on now. I'd rather watch Get Over It after a bottle of Walker Black. At least that would be origional. 
Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 09-24-2001, 06:51 PM:
John Cleese was one of the greatest british comedians - twenty years ago - giving me top value with "A Fish called Wanda" - but allready in the same teams follow-up "Fierce Animals" the glory faded away, and if anyone is about to tell me, that John Cleese, playing Jerry Lewis with a set of to big teeth in his mouth, they may stand up for some heavy duty spanking. -RIP-OFF - yeah - that's the word to cover "Ratrace". -The film was shown recently for an audience of danish cinema-owners, answering back with solid booh'ing.
-In all, half of those thirty-some films, representing the upcoming season, were pretty dissapointing. -It's going to be a long, cold winter - except for Shrek, Harry P, Lord of the Rings, Atlantis and a few others, i'm afraid. Next to come is "Am's Sweethearts", which definitely will n o t win at the danish jury.../ p
Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 01-06-2002, 04:04 AM:
Yep just gonna bump this puppy back up for #2 topic/lockit post.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-27-2002, 04:05 PM:
I'm a bit amazed at how many of you have not liked this movie. While I've never seen Mad Mad World, I enjoyed this movie and last Saturday night, showed this to three of my friends. One of these friends typically does not like comedies and another one is pretty picky about movies and one loves comedies, and the two of them that are harder to please really enjoyed "Rat Race" (much to my surprise). The four of us had a blast watching it. The one guy (who really likes comedies) came by my office a few minutes ago and mentioned how much he enjoyed it, four days after seeing it.------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 02-27-2002, 04:37 PM:
Jon Lovitz steals the whole movie in that one scene.
Posted by Christopher Santapaola (Member # 1015) on 03-02-2002, 09:09 PM:
I just want to say the first thing I thought of when I haerd of this movie was, oh great another mad mad mad mad world rip, and I was right. Saying that I still liked this movie eventhough I have just seen it and that was on DVD. I also loved the Hitler car segments and the cow (even if a bit out of plase) was one of the funiest parts. To all those who have NOT seen Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, you have no idea what your missing. It is probably the greatest comedy ever made.