Rat Race (2001)

Greed has a way of bringing out everyone's wildest side, especially when a fortune is waiting at the finish line. Jerry Zucker's "Rat Race," modeled on the 1963 comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit "Airplane!," but it has enough laughs to make it an agreeable way to pass the time. Like its inspiration, it gathers a huge cast of comedy veterans, this time rounded up by an eccentric Las Vegas casino owner (a toothy John Cleese) who sends a group of random guests racing to a locker in Silver City, New Mexico, where $2 million awaits the first to arrive. Meanwhile, his high-rolling clients secretly bet on who will win. With Rowan Atkinson's goofy Italian tourist, Seth Green's slacker antics and some nicely understated work from "SCTV" alumnus Dave Thomas, it has nearly as many highlights as misfires, and Zucker's love of easy gags and old-fashioned slapstick will tickle anyone's funny bone. Other ingredients feel stale, including Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s embarrassingly broad routine, some crude humor that narrows its family appeal and the notion that crashing cars are automatically hilarious. Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer and Amy Smart co-star. Questionable choices aside, it keeps a pleasant, good-hearted spirit.