(rated PG13, 104 mins.)
Director Jerry Zuker (Airplane, Naked Gun) marks his return to comedy in an ensemble film about easy money, greed and bad driving. To entertain his wealthiest high rollers, a group that will bet on anything, a Las Vegas casino tycoon (John Cleese) pits six ordinary people against each other in a wild dash for $2 million in cash hammed into a locker in Goldrush town, New Mexico. The crazy ensemble consists of Cuba Gooding as the football referee who made a loser call that cost thousands, Rowan (Bean) Atkinson who is a bumbling goof with no purpose or life, Seth Green and his brother (Vince Vieluf) with the infected pierced tongue, Whoopi Goldberg and her daughter (she hasn’t seen in 21 years), the gambling parent (John Lovitz) and his wife (Kathy Najimy) who came to Vegas to see David Copperfield and finally Breckin Meyer who’s supposed to be in Vegas for a bachelor party and lives a rather vanilla lifestyle – never even picked up a dice, but gets more than he bargained for when he meets a cute pilot (Amy Smart). Add to this a bus full of 100 Lucille Ball impersonators, another full of mental patients, and a human heart to be delivered by Wayne Knight (Seinfeld’s “Newman”). Shake it all up and you’ve got a slapstick comedy classic like the old “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’. The energy of the characters is unmatched. Like a hundred Jim Carrey’s on speed. It’s one unexpected surprise after another giving new meaning to just landing in a weird situation — like driving through a tunnel and holding your breath. The most entertaining laugh-out-loud-blow-the-Farrelly-brothers-away-comedy since “Airplane”. And, by the way, Cuba Gooding has great legs!
