Written by Andy Breckman and directed by Jerry Zucker. So, a Las Vegas hotel owner with a lot of rich friends, puts $2 million in a locker located in Silver City, New Mexico. Then, he gets 6 random people together and challenges them be the first one to go from Las Vegas and get to the locker with the $2 million first. Wacky comedy ensues.
John Cleese plays the hotel magnate, Donald P. Sinclair, who sets up this race as well as other odd ball wages like betting on how much a hooker would charge to take a Pepto Bismal filled bath. ($3000). The racers include: Breckin Meyer as Nick Schaffer, the guy who never takes risks or do anything shady only to find him doing those very things. He teams up with Amy Smart who plays a jilted girlfriend who flies helicopters, Tracy Faucet. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a football referee who made a bad call and cannot seem to get away from being noticed and who ends up in a bus with 100 Lucy impersonators. Seth Green and Vince Vieluf play brothers always looking for a money scam who also aren’t quite that bright…Lanei Chapman and Whoopi Goldberg play daughter/ mother team who have just met after being apart their whole lives and now have to work together. Jon Lovitz and Kathy Najimy play a Jewish couple on vacation with their kids who end up in a Nazi museum and steal Hitler’s convertible for the race. Rowan Atkinson plays Enrico Pollini, a narcoleptic, who gets a ride from organ donor delivery driver Wayne Knight. Dave Thomas plays the hotel magnates right hand man, Harold who waits at the station with the locker to give updates on the race.
This movie is full of the usual “characters” and scenarios for a screwball comedy. There are some cringy moments as well laugh out loud moments. The end is a bit cheesy, but what do want? Everyone has their moments of goofiness and there a lot of people in this. Kathy Bates plays a weird squirrel lady, Gloria Allred plays herself, Smash Mouth, (the band) make an appearance, Paul Rodriguez plays a cab driver, Dean Cain plays the cheating boyfriend to Tracy, and Colleen Camp as a nurse.
I thought it was funny in parts; although, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the actors. Pretty formulaic as an ensemble, the premise isn’t original, but the scenarios the racers get into are clever and make sense for their particular arc. With so many characters, there isn’t much time for development–just getting from one scene to the next with funny gags.
Wacky, zany, with crazy car sequences, a hot air balloon and cow scenario (yes), did I mention a Nazi museum(?), and many modes of transportation. As much as I love Lucy (see what I did there?), it would be a nightmare trapped on a bus full of them…just saying. Available on Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer below: