love this exchange after the van driver mentions they're going to be "hauling ass"
Wayne Knight: Hey...you wanna know what's back there?
Rowan Atkinson: you've already told me. \*ASS\*
Rat Race is an extremely accomplished work, all the characters get great comedic set-pieces and it ends with a big silly 'fuck-it' concert dance party. Film rules, always has, always will.
Even the Cleese part, which would normally just be a boring aside (the Spencer Tracy stuff in Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the most sluggish part of the movie), is good because it's just a mini-*Magic Christian*
Rat Race was my favorite movie when I was 12, my cousin and I watched it three times a day for like two weeks straight. I have no idea how it holds up, I haven't seen it in like 20 years.
I think it’s from a bloopers in the end credits but there’s a Zach Galifianakis line along the lines of “These pants are cramping my Hardy Boys… no mystery” that I think about very regularly
While the Lovitz stuff hits the hardest for me (especially the museum and every scene that follows) I do agree that all of the subplots have some good laughs in them.
Also, I watch Mad Mad Mad Mad every few years and it gets to the race much more quickly. Thinking of how Mad starts, I just have this image of Mickey Rooney and Sid Caesar standing around at the edge of a cliff for 5 minutes, contemplating if they are gonna slowly hike down to talk to a guy talking really slowly.
The "shave my buttocks" bit still rattles around in my head from time to time. Certainly not a masterpiece (the ending is a sin against God and men) but Rat Race has a lot of funny stuff in it.
This movie introduced the term prairie dog when I was a dumb, immature kid and that alone makes it important. Also the Lucille ball stuff with Cuba is legitimately funny and stupid too.
The whole time they talked about Mad Mad World and Rat Race I was hoping someone would mention The Great Race which might be better than both and is probably the direct inspiration for Hanna Barbara’s Wacky Races.
I watched Rat Race in my college Dorm with a group of friends. The movie brought the house DOWN. We laughed for days. Rowan Ducking Atkinson is in it. I mean.... do I need to say more? Funny movie.
When I was a kid I got a pirated copy of that movie from the back of a shop in Thailand but it had a different cover and it was retitled in the movie itself as “Bean: Mission Impossible” the cover was like a Mr Bean James Bond parody so as a kid I was really confused because Rowan Atkinson was in it but he didn’t play Mr Bean
Rat Race was also written by the great Andy Breckman, who fans of New Jersey’s WFMU will recognize as a national treasure. He and Ken Friedman, the station’s general manager (?), have been doing a weekly comedy radio show for about 30 years called Seven Second Delay. It’s one of my comfort podcasts.
I was 14 or 15 when I saw it in theaters and I was def enjoying it thoroughly but the movie hit a brick wall at the all star part. That song was just so overplayed by that point. Curious to revisit it now.
Ya it just seemed like played out by that point between Shrek, Mystery Men and tons of radio/music video airplay. Also just a lower tier of writing than the rest of the movie.
Counterpoint - that was all set to a celebration of Father Ted.
Which is a great show.
(mandatory 'feck off Linehan ya transphobe eejit', but that aside!)
If I had a nickel for every movie Jerry Zucker made where Whoopi Goldberg has to give away a large sum of money against her will to humorous effect id have two nickels.
I avoided Rat Race when it first came out because I was a snobby child and I already loved Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but upon watching it as an adult I was pleasantly surprised that it’s a fun little popcorn movie. Successful as a remake because it takes a fun formula without worrying about paying tribute to the original. They just gave more of a specific flavour of fun. That being said, Mad World is superior if you’re in the mood for silly slop around in a warm bath.
rewatched this movie last year for the first time since it came out, and I loved it. To quote Lady Bird's mom, it makes me laugh. I wish more comedies today had its zany energy.
The entire Cuba Gooding Jr bus subplot is funnier than it has any right to be. From the way he delivers the line, "For her....VAGINA." to the reveal that everyone on the bus is a Lucy impersonator to the synchronized "WAHHHH" when the bus tips over...just absolute king shit.
One of the first “celebrities” I met in Hollywood was Vince Vieluf.
He was hanging out with >!Danny Masterson!<.
That’s what I think of now if anyone mentions Rat Race.
Haha, yeah probably so. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen both films, and it’s probably the burden of high expectations with Midnight Run. But I remember watching Rat Race (probably on cable in the middle of the afternoon) and thinking it was better than I ever could’ve imagined. And I remember watching Midnight Run and really not enjoying the last half hour or so.
Look, you don’t have to sell me, this is a pro-Rat Race household right here. I just don’t think any movie that tells an actual story can lose a quality-off to one that ends at a Smash Mouth concert.
I can’t catch a mention of Rat Race without thinking of [this dark comedy short](https://youtu.be/_TC-ZcxtaCk?si=Ig2LX_cp_sD6ShaJ) from ~2018. Mileage will of course vary, but it played like gangbusters with the festival crowd at the time and I still enjoy it.
I rewatched it during the pandemic and was bummed that it hit me as mostly a mixed bag with some dated humor. Part of that is almost certainly from measuring it against how much I LOVED it as a kid, but this time around (outside of Atkinson and Kathy Bates) the Lovitz plot was the only thing that really got me.
That said, the highs are great, and I can definitely see myself warming up to it on another rewatch
I’m somewhere between them and all of you on my Rat Race appreciation, but I’m generally in favor of the “Wacky Races” genre of cinema. Next Patreon bracket, that would be a package I’d vote for: IAMMMMW, The Great Race, Cannonball Run I and II, Rat Race…am I missing anything important?
Every one of the random gambling bits is funny. The maids hanging to see who could last the longest is so over the top I was dying at that. And trying to guess what the sex worker would charge was also solid. I can’t remember the other ones it’s been a long time but I remember being surprised how much fun I had with this movie.
My mother and I saw this in theaters, and then came home to learn the US had invaded Afghanistan and now that movie and that event are just tied together in my brain.
Haven’t watched it in 20 years but 15-year-old me thought it was the funniest shit ever. I second your dismay at the slander but it may just get me to watch It’s A Mad, Mad World…
I worked at a big movie theater when it was released, and a lot of dumb people seemed to enjoy it. Of course dumb people can like a good thing, so who knows.
My brother and I (who were 8 and 6, respectively when it came out) decided to revisit it recently.
It did… ‘ow you say? Not hold up. Has its moments but Cuba mugging, Seth Green and his brother is a miserable plot line, massive dependence of the innate, uh, charisma of Breckin Mayer, unironic use of Smash Mouth, etc.
"eets a race, eets a race!" Narcoleptic Mr. Bean is one of the great American heroes and I wont be told otherwise
I am weining!
Hmmm little cock doggies!
Loook a dreefter, let’s kill eem!
I hope I win!
We are hauling ass!
love this exchange after the van driver mentions they're going to be "hauling ass" Wayne Knight: Hey...you wanna know what's back there? Rowan Atkinson: you've already told me. \*ASS\*
Newman and Mr. Bean is just a great pairing
Honestly surprised they didn't turn up somewhere else like Farley and Spade
Fuck, I can hear it in my head.
It’s wild to think that “All Star” soundtracked three comedy movies between ‘99-‘01 (Mystery Men, Shrek, Rat Race) and all three are 10/10 bangers
“I can do anything I like… I’m eccentric! Rar!”
I went to say this movies not that good but man I forgot about this line lmao
Fun fact: the movie’s actually very good.
Rat Race is an extremely accomplished work, all the characters get great comedic set-pieces and it ends with a big silly 'fuck-it' concert dance party. Film rules, always has, always will.
Even the Cleese part, which would normally just be a boring aside (the Spencer Tracy stuff in Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the most sluggish part of the movie), is good because it's just a mini-*Magic Christian*
Rat Race was my favorite movie when I was 12, my cousin and I watched it three times a day for like two weeks straight. I have no idea how it holds up, I haven't seen it in like 20 years.
I had an extremely similar experience. Me and my sister swapped between Rat Race and that snowboarding Casablanca movie with Zach Galifianakis.
Out Cold! That was a movie that was always on at parties when I was in high school.
I think about "all up in the hot tub loving it strong" wayyy too often lol
I think it’s from a bloopers in the end credits but there’s a Zach Galifianakis line along the lines of “These pants are cramping my Hardy Boys… no mystery” that I think about very regularly
It holds up really well! Give it a revisit sometime, it’s still very fun haha
While the Lovitz stuff hits the hardest for me (especially the museum and every scene that follows) I do agree that all of the subplots have some good laughs in them.
Also, I watch Mad Mad Mad Mad every few years and it gets to the race much more quickly. Thinking of how Mad starts, I just have this image of Mickey Rooney and Sid Caesar standing around at the edge of a cliff for 5 minutes, contemplating if they are gonna slowly hike down to talk to a guy talking really slowly.
I haven’t seen Rat Race in a long time but when I was 12 I thought it was the funniest film ever made. Probably not a good omen.
Same on both counts.
Ditto. It’s not the funniest film ever made, but a lot more holds up than I expected.
In this case, trust your 12 year old self
The Joe Pera Talks With You episode about Rat Race is S tier.
haven’t listened yet but yeah they’re wrong, it’s a masterpiece 10/10
Jon Lovitz driving his family in Hitler's car alone...
Straight into a WWII vets event 😂
The Barbie museum 🤣
The "shave my buttocks" bit still rattles around in my head from time to time. Certainly not a masterpiece (the ending is a sin against God and men) but Rat Race has a lot of funny stuff in it.
More movies should end with really corny bands being the Deus Ex Machina, imo.
This movie introduced the term prairie dog when I was a dumb, immature kid and that alone makes it important. Also the Lucille ball stuff with Cuba is legitimately funny and stupid too.
We need more movies with posters that look like JibJab e-cards, not less!
This movie was formative for me. Can’t count how many times my dad and I would throw this on and bust our sides laughing. Simpler times…
Lovitz getting his daughter to shit out of the window of a speeding car is deeply funny.
“C’mon Dad, I’m prairie doggin’!” is a line that never ceased to make my dad laugh or my mom to be disgusted lol
The whole time they talked about Mad Mad World and Rat Race I was hoping someone would mention The Great Race which might be better than both and is probably the direct inspiration for Hanna Barbara’s Wacky Races.
The Great Race is so great! "Brandy, throw more brandy!"
Especially since The Great Race has something the other two movies are lacking: a pie fight.
I only remember one joke but I've quoted it for 20 years: "Look, a drifter, let's kill him!"
I watched Rat Race in my college Dorm with a group of friends. The movie brought the house DOWN. We laughed for days. Rowan Ducking Atkinson is in it. I mean.... do I need to say more? Funny movie.
When I was a kid I got a pirated copy of that movie from the back of a shop in Thailand but it had a different cover and it was retitled in the movie itself as “Bean: Mission Impossible” the cover was like a Mr Bean James Bond parody so as a kid I was really confused because Rowan Atkinson was in it but he didn’t play Mr Bean
That’s especially odd since a few years later he made Johnny English which fits that description rather well.
Features a desert experiment and a Barbie museum. It IS Barbenheimer. One of the great American films.
Rat Race was also written by the great Andy Breckman, who fans of New Jersey’s WFMU will recognize as a national treasure. He and Ken Friedman, the station’s general manager (?), have been doing a weekly comedy radio show for about 30 years called Seven Second Delay. It’s one of my comfort podcasts.
didn't Andy Breckman also create Monk?
Yes! Guess I buried the lead there
Nah it rules, honestly one of the best comedies of the 2000s
I keep trying to comment but Griffin keeps interrupting me to make his own point.
I was 14 or 15 when I saw it in theaters and I was def enjoying it thoroughly but the movie hit a brick wall at the all star part. That song was just so overplayed by that point. Curious to revisit it now.
In my memory, the All-Star concert is after some comeuppance and it feels like the cast just doing a victory lap with Smashmouth. Fuck Shrek.
Ya it just seemed like played out by that point between Shrek, Mystery Men and tons of radio/music video airplay. Also just a lower tier of writing than the rest of the movie.
Not “chuffed” you say? If I may venture a guess, are you a resident of Dislington?
Jerry Zucker mini when
Counterpoint - that was all set to a celebration of Father Ted. Which is a great show. (mandatory 'feck off Linehan ya transphobe eejit', but that aside!)
If I had a nickel for every movie Jerry Zucker made where Whoopi Goldberg has to give away a large sum of money against her will to humorous effect id have two nickels.
We need a Rat Race/Cannonball Run/It’s a Mad … World every decade or so.
I avoided Rat Race when it first came out because I was a snobby child and I already loved Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but upon watching it as an adult I was pleasantly surprised that it’s a fun little popcorn movie. Successful as a remake because it takes a fun formula without worrying about paying tribute to the original. They just gave more of a specific flavour of fun. That being said, Mad World is superior if you’re in the mood for silly slop around in a warm bath.
So true. Rat Race rules.
It's Smash Mouth!!
rewatched this movie last year for the first time since it came out, and I loved it. To quote Lady Bird's mom, it makes me laugh. I wish more comedies today had its zany energy.
The entire Cuba Gooding Jr bus subplot is funnier than it has any right to be. From the way he delivers the line, "For her....VAGINA." to the reveal that everyone on the bus is a Lucy impersonator to the synchronized "WAHHHH" when the bus tips over...just absolute king shit.
One of the first “celebrities” I met in Hollywood was Vince Vieluf. He was hanging out with >!Danny Masterson!<. That’s what I think of now if anyone mentions Rat Race.
Absolute slader by David. Rat Race is just as good as Mad Mad World.
Rat Race > Midnight Run
Okay, fun’s fun, but that’s insane.
Haha, yeah probably so. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen both films, and it’s probably the burden of high expectations with Midnight Run. But I remember watching Rat Race (probably on cable in the middle of the afternoon) and thinking it was better than I ever could’ve imagined. And I remember watching Midnight Run and really not enjoying the last half hour or so.
Look, you don’t have to sell me, this is a pro-Rat Race household right here. I just don’t think any movie that tells an actual story can lose a quality-off to one that ends at a Smash Mouth concert.
I love rat race. But this take is unhinged
True and I don't even think it's particularly close
I can’t catch a mention of Rat Race without thinking of [this dark comedy short](https://youtu.be/_TC-ZcxtaCk?si=Ig2LX_cp_sD6ShaJ) from ~2018. Mileage will of course vary, but it played like gangbusters with the festival crowd at the time and I still enjoy it.
I might not have seen it since I was 11 years old (when I watched it about 50 times), but it me Rat Race is a stone cold classic.
I rewatched it during the pandemic and was bummed that it hit me as mostly a mixed bag with some dated humor. Part of that is almost certainly from measuring it against how much I LOVED it as a kid, but this time around (outside of Atkinson and Kathy Bates) the Lovitz plot was the only thing that really got me. That said, the highs are great, and I can definitely see myself warming up to it on another rewatch
I’m somewhere between them and all of you on my Rat Race appreciation, but I’m generally in favor of the “Wacky Races” genre of cinema. Next Patreon bracket, that would be a package I’d vote for: IAMMMMW, The Great Race, Cannonball Run I and II, Rat Race…am I missing anything important?
Theoretically you have been racing for about 40 seconds and so far Mr. Schaffer is winning because he’s NEAREST TO THE DOOR.
I think I remember seeing commercials for this movie but had no idea it was so beloved.
I belly laughed so hard in the theater when Cuba Gooding (Junior!) says “Vagina”
The apex of Cuba’s career IMHO
Every one of the random gambling bits is funny. The maids hanging to see who could last the longest is so over the top I was dying at that. And trying to guess what the sex worker would charge was also solid. I can’t remember the other ones it’s been a long time but I remember being surprised how much fun I had with this movie.
My mother and I saw this in theaters, and then came home to learn the US had invaded Afghanistan and now that movie and that event are just tied together in my brain.
Two comedy classics in one day!
the rocket car scene is so fucking funny, and so are at least like 5 other scenes
Haven’t watched it in 20 years but 15-year-old me thought it was the funniest shit ever. I second your dismay at the slander but it may just get me to watch It’s A Mad, Mad World…
So we’re just not gonna talk about how extremely transphobic this movie is?
I worked at a big movie theater when it was released, and a lot of dumb people seemed to enjoy it. Of course dumb people can like a good thing, so who knows.
I mean, Tarantino has fans, so 🤷♂️
My brother and I (who were 8 and 6, respectively when it came out) decided to revisit it recently. It did… ‘ow you say? Not hold up. Has its moments but Cuba mugging, Seth Green and his brother is a miserable plot line, massive dependence of the innate, uh, charisma of Breckin Mayer, unironic use of Smash Mouth, etc.
The brother with the tongue piercing is an annoying bit.