“Rat Race” Starring Rowan Atkinson, John
Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Directed by Jerry Zucker
Although money may not be the root of all evil, it just might be
the root of all insanity. The two hours of comic absurdity titled
“Rat Race” repeatedly confirms this statement as a
handful of zany individuals race for a bag of $2 million and
continually find themselves in outrageous situations. The
situations are so wild, in fact, that the movie’s extreme
randomness ultimately becomes its charm. The gags are unexpected
and elaborate, and the eccentric characters add to the
viewers’ enjoyment of this incredible fiasco. The madness
begins as each of the characters, for one reason or another, are at
the same Las Vegas hotel owned by Donald Sinclair (John Cleese), an
eccentric millionaire obsessed with gambling. Sinclair concocts a
game in which six lucky individuals will win a chance at two
million dollars. They simply have to race to a locker in Silver
City, N.M., and the first one to open the locker takes the prize.
No one will get there, however, without facing some fairly
incredible obstacles that are both surprising and creative. Nearly
every joke comes completely unexpected, and the unpredictable,
outlandish plot twists make the movie wildly shocking and exciting.
Sometimes, however, the movie becomes a little too ridiculous,
though the jokes only occasionally venture into the realm of
unfunny. The wacky characters are played by some very recognizable
faces. Whoopi Goldberg plays an outlandish and spiritual woman, Jon
Lovitz is a Jewish family man with a gambling addiction, Cuba
Gooding Jr. is a football referee, and Seth Green is a money-hungry
young man always plotting to make some quick cash. “Rat
Race” pokes fun at human nature and with its extreme
situations, allows viewers to see how ridiculous people really are.
And be warned, it gets pretty ridiculous.
Suneal Kolluri  Universal Studios
Eugene Levy shares more embarrassing moments with
his son in "American Pie 2." “American Pie 2″
Starring Jason Biggs and Shannon Elizabeth Directed by James B.
Rogers
“American Pie 2″ is as heartwarming, reassuring and
comforting as, well … warm apple pie ““ although admittedly
probably not in the same way that millions have come to regard that
once innocent homemade pastry, thanks to the teen comedy’s
first installment. While two years have passed since the surprise
hit “American Pie” arrived in theaters, the sequel
finds the whole gang exactly one year older. Now instead of dealing
with the end of high school, the crew is back after a year of
college and must come to terms with the changes that are reshaping
their world and the inevitable fact that things will never be the
same. That description makes “American Pie 2″ sound
like a dramatic coming-of-age story, something it most certainly is
not. It is, however, an entertaining jaunt into the frustrated sex
lives of a cast of surprisingly funny and interesting characters,
despite the fact that each one teeters on the edge of a painfully
clichéd stereotype. What worked most about the first
“American Pie” was the engaging cast and thankfully,
everyone is back for the sequel, right down to the drunken
partygoers and sexy exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth). The
director may have changed, as James B. Rogers replaced the
original’s Paul Weitz, but stylistically the films are nearly
identical. Jason Biggs has returned as Jim, who is still just as
geeky and sexually inept as the first time around. Together with
Chris “Oz” Ostreicher (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian
Nicholas), and Paul Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), the whole group
decides to rent a beach house where they can party and sleep with
as many women as possible. This, of course, works out differently
then expected. Steve Stifler, played with adolescent zeal by Sean
William Scott, is unexpectedly the most enjoyable character due to
his complete embodiment of male stupidity. The “American
Pie” series is an interesting one because it walks a unique
line between gross-out comedies such as “There’s
Something About Mary” and teen comedies like
“Can’t Hardly Wait.” Both the original and sequel
are a hybrid of these two types of films, making it nearly
impossible for it to fail because it has enough of both genres to
keep most people happy, although this time it delves further into
gross-out humor. Since it is a sequel, comparisons must inevitably
be made. In terms of laugh-out-loud moments, “American Pie
2″ is perhaps funnier because it can rely on in-jokes from
the previous film. As a stand-alone movie, it lacks the
sentimentality of the original and relies on a dangerously thin
plot, if it can be called a plot at all. Any movie, however, that
has lines like “Don’t forget your penis cream”
should never be taken too seriously and with this in mind,
“American Pie 2″ is better than the average teen and/or
gross-out comedy, and worth mindless enjoyment.
David Holmberg