Rat Race

Are you so sick of no-brainer films that you're contemplating a night in with a three-hour avant-garde film? I was. Fortunately, I got dragged off to see Rat Race.

Casino mogul Donald Sinclair (John Cleese) give a key to a safe deposit box to six randomly selected guests at his Vegas hotel. The safe deposit box contains two million dollars. The contestants in this really are random. Owen Templeton (Cuba Gooding Jr) ends up driving a busload of Lucille Ball impersonators fans across the desert to an I Love Lucy convention. Vera Baker (Whoopi Goldberg) meets 'The Squirrel Lady' (Kathy Bates, in an uncredited cameo). Randy Pear (Jon Lovitz) and his family steal Hitler's car from a Nazi museum.

Jerry Zucker, the genius director of The Naked Gun and Airplane!, fills his finest film in years with laughs aplenty. Rowan Atkinson also turns in a great performance as a narcoleptic Italian, the delighting and delightful Mr Pollini. Another treat is Cleese's trademark manic ranting, only available on Fawlty Towers repeats.

Rat Race might be a very, very silly film indeed, but it does exactly what it says on the tin: entertains. The lack of cruel, crude and tasteless humour is also a refreshing change; this is a film so good-hearted that you can't help but like it. With a bum-friendly running time, spot-on performances, lightning pace and great gags Rat Race is a must-see.

Olivia Sutton