If you’ve ever wanted to watch Mr. Bean, aMonty Python legend,Seth Green,Whoopi Goldberg, and Smash Mouth all crash headfirst into a live-action cartoon –Rat Raceshould be right up your alley. And startingAugust 1,Jerry Zucker’s2001 chaos-fueled ensemble comedyis making its way to Paramount+, where a new generation of streamers can marvel at the fact that this movie even exists. Loosely inspired by 1963’sIt’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,Rat Raceopens with eccentric billionaire Donald Sinclair, played withunhinged glee byJohn Cleese, inviting a group of unsuspecting tourists at a Las Vegas casino to compete in a secret race. The rules are simple: There’s $2 million in a locker 700 miles away in Silver City, New Mexico. Whoever gets there first, keeps it. And as if that weren’t absurd enough, Sinclair’s fellow billionaires are gambling on the outcome.
The cast? Bonkers in the best way.Rowan Atkinsonplays Mr. Pollini, a narcoleptic Italian who isessentially Mr. Bean with a vaguely European accent.Cuba Gooding Jr.is a disgraced NFL referee who steals a school bus full ofLucille Ballimpersonators. Green andVince Vielufare two dimwitted brothers with pierced tongues and even worse ideas.Whoopi GoldbergandLanei Chapmanplay a recently reunited mother and daughter.Jon Lovitzis a stressed-out dad who ends up crashing Hitler’s car into a World War II veterans' convention in one of the funniest scenes in cinema history.Breckin Meyeris the straight-laced everyman. Oh, and did we mentionSmash Mouth?
Was ‘Rat Race’ Any Good?
When it premiered,Rat Racewas mostly dismissed by critics and ignored by awards voters(shocking, we know). But those who grew up with it or discovered it on cable remember it fondly for exactly what it is: a monumentally silly, loud, and weirdly ambitious comedy with a cast that shouldn’t make sense but totally works. And let’s be honest, there’s still something deeply satisfying about watching John Cleese cackle like a maniac with enormous fake teeth while chaos erupts around him. (Side note: Cleese’s character, Donald Sinclair, is the real name of the hotelier upon which he basedBasil Fawlty inFawlty Towers.) Whether it’s the squirrel lady, the cow in the windshield, or the “Barbiemuseum” scene,Rat Raceremains the kind of comedy that leaves you saying, “Wait, that actually happened in this movie?”
It did. And you’re able to relive every ridiculous second of it whenRat Racehits Paramount+ on August 1.
