Rat Race

Avaricious Las Vegas casino tycoon Donald Sinclair (Cleese) will do anything to fulfil the whims of his high-rolling clientèle. But his latest wager is his most imaginative yet. Concealed in a station locker several hundred miles away is a duffel bag containing $2m cash. Expounding his distaste for the low-rollers who also frequent his casino, he places six unique coins in the casino's slots and invites the winners to go forth and seek out the booty. The first one to open the locker gets to keep the cash. Yet, unbeknown to this gaggle of gullibles, Sinclair and his classy clients will be tracking their every move, Truman Show-style, and betting high stakes on the outcome. Roll on a madcap Cannonball Run across several states. Director Zucker is best known for his contributions to zany comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Yet, incoherently stupid, more than it is funny, only one scene here - with Kathy Bates and a bunch of squirrels - gets close to the hilarity of those films. Still, there are some humourous allusions to the new compensation culture, and the soppy feelgood finalé could be deemed a fitting end to its sarcastic swipe at capitalism.