RAT RACE (2001) ** Fine effort to recapture the anarchic feel of 1970s films like Rock 'n Roll High School, the masterpiece that gave director Jerry Zucker his start. Actually this one's a little bit more like The Gumball Rally or Cannonball Run, especially in the sense that it's a cross-country race of sorts, among the differences being that this group of characters can only be expected to make it from Vegas to Silver Springs, New Mexico. The problem with a big ass ensemble cast like this is that someone might outshine everyone else, and that's the only reason that including Rowan Atkinson (as an Italian with a sleeping disorder, no less) was a mistake. He absolutely shines, every minute that he's not in the picture is irritating. Mostly every minute; Jon Lovitz has some great moments as a Jewish guy who steals Hitler's car from a white supremacist museum and battles a lesbian biker gang; and Amy Smart convinces as she thrashes her ex-boyfriend in a psycho scene involving a helicopter, paint and a plastic swimming pool. An "I Love Lucy" convention, gambling Arabs, flying cows, blonde Whoopi Goldberg, psycho squirrel lover, monster trucks, hookers, soon to be repentant heretics; there's a little of everything except for political correctness. John Cleese is largely wasted as a business man with big white teeth and an expensive suit, but who isn't? Struggling students may impress their teacher by presenting the film as an Ode to Karma.
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