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Rat Race (2001)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 126
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 71

Rat Race moves from one sight gag to another, but only a handful of them are genuinely funny.

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 20

Rat Race moves from one sight gag to another, but only a handful of them are genuinely funny.

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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 383,283

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Movie Info

A very loose remake of the classic multi-star comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), this madcap comedy is directed by Jerry Zucker, one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team and director of Ghost (1990). John Cleese stars as an eccentric casino owner who devises a contest pitting six teams against each other in a race to claim two million dollars from a locker in New Mexico. The competitors are Owen (Cuba Gooding Jr., who ends up driving a bus full of Lucille Ball imitators, a

PG-13, 1 hr. 52 min.

Comedy

Directed By: Jerry Zucker

In Theaters: Aug 17, 2001 Wide

On DVD: Jan 29, 2002

Box Office:$55.8M

Paramount Pictures

Fitfully amusing farce.

January 6, 2002 Comment

Rita Kempley

Washington Post

Top Critic

An overheated, underdone farce.

August 27, 2001 Comment

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

A few decent running gags ... and an ocean of bad ones.

August 21, 2001 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Top Critic

Race, which delights in bashing all manner of transportation, hits its silly stride early and never shifts into a higher gear.

August 17, 2001 Full Review Source: USA Today

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Susan Wloszczyna

USA Today

Top Critic

It's a mad mad mad mad world, all right, and Rat Race makes it seem all the zanier.

August 17, 2001 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

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Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Top Critic

The funniest film to come along since South Park.

August 17, 2001 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Vulgar and lowbrow, but very funny.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Ruthlessly dumb people--but funny, too.

September 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)

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Christopher Smith

Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Manic, messy, and for the most part silly, this road comedy marks Zucker's bumpy return to the genre after a number of equally bumpy dramas such as First Knight.

November 1, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

... the only real surprise is how genuinely dreadful a movie that aims only for pleasant, profitable mediocrity can be.

January 29, 2005 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Oh, you dirty rat!

January 4, 2005 Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com

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Staci Layne Wilson

StaciWilson.com

Some great moments, but with the talent on offer, this film should have broken ribs.

April 8, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

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Harry Guerin

RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

It's a big, dumb, loud, long, (and sometimes quite) funny movie

March 19, 2003 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

Brian Mckay

eFilmCritic.com

A fantastic road trip in the vein of films like Scavenger Hunt

January 29, 2003 Comment

Wesley Lovell

Oscar Guy

It goes on, and on, and on for 113 minutes, which is way past any reasonable person's limit for this sort of thing.

October 21, 2002 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan

| Comment

Jean Lowerison

San Diego Metropolitan

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Rat Race

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I think because Jerry Zucker's other films Airpane and The Naked Gun didn't really have any genuinely good actors and just got straight to the gags "formula" was the reason people were dissapointed with Rat Race. It didn't stick to it and instead used real actors. I however see this as an advantage. Because they were

December 9, 2011

Michael Miller

Super Reviewer

A full star cast with a fun race and bet, great characters - although I don't think I will ever enjoy Rowan Atkinson being Mr Bean like in mostly everything he does. Enjoyed the spin off stories, good fun and entertaining.

July 27, 2006