Rat Race (film) - Plot

Plot

Donald Sinclair, the eccentric owner of The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, devises a new game to entertain the high rollers who visit his hotel. Six special tokens are placed in the casino's slot machines, and the winners are gathered together and told that $2 million in cash is hidden in a duffel bag in a train station locker in Silver City, New Mexico. Each team is given a key to the locker and told to race to the train station and claim the money. Unbeknownst to the competitors, Sinclair's wealthy patrons are placing bets on who will win the race. Among the racers are scheming twins Duane and Blaine Cody, businesswoman Merrill Jennings and her estranged mother Vera, disgraced football referee Owen Templeton, the Pear family led by opportunistic father Randy, eccentric Italian tourist Enrico Pollini who suffers from narcolepsy, and no-nonsense attorney Nick Schaffer.

Duane and Blaine manage to destroy an airport radar with their pickup truck to prevent anyone from flying to the finish line, before deciding to split up to double their chances of winning by creating a replica key. However, a locksmith overhears their plan and makes off with the key. The brothers chase the locksmith who tries to escape in a hot air balloon, eventually recovering the key and leaving the locksmith and a stray dairy cow hanging from the balloon's anchor rope. The brothers later steal a monster truck when their car is destroyed. Merrill and Vera crash their car thanks to malicious road directions given by a crazed squirrel saleswoman, forcing them to steal a rocket car which races across the desert until it runs out of fuel, the women dizzily stumbling onto a bus full of mental patients which eventually drives through Silver City.

Owen is left stranded in the desert by a vengeful cab driver, but comes across a coach filled with women going to an I Love Lucy convention and disguises himself as the driver. Nearing Silver City, the bus hits the cow dangling from the hot air balloon, swerving off the road and suffering a puncture (and eventually rolling over). Owen breaks down, reveals he is not a coach driver and is forced to flee from the women. The (apparently Jewish) Pear family mistakenly visit a museum dedicated to Nazi Klaus Barbie, but after the Cody brothers vandalize their car engine, they steal Adolf Hitler's Mercedes-Benz staff car. Randy accidentally insults a biker gang, who attack the car, causing the Pears to crash into a meeting for World War II veterans, who believe the family to be Nazis. Randy later drugs his family, who wished to stop the race, and hitches a ride on a semi tractor to reach Silver City.

Nick at first refuses to participate until he meets helicopter pilot Tracy Faucet who offers him a lift to Silver City, as she is still able to fly. On the way, they pass over Tracy's boyfriend's house but find he is with his ex-girlfriend, enraging Tracy to the point that she chases him in the helicopter until it stalls out, causing her and Nick to steal her boyfriend's truck. Enrico, who is narcoleptic, falls asleep at the start of the race but awakens hours later and receives a lift from ambulance driver Zack Mallozzi, who is delivering a transplant heart to El Paso. Zack wants to show off the heart, but this results in it bouncing out the window. Zack considers removing Enrico's heart to replace the first, but Enrico flees onto a passing train. Zack, in despair, touches an electric fence, which brings the retrieved heart back to life.

All the racers reunite in Silver City, but Enrico arrives at the train station first only to fall asleep as he reaches the locker. Sinclair's assistant Mr. Grisham and call girl Vicky steal the money bag, but lose it when the locksmith ties it to the balloon, only for the three to crash their car. The racers follow the balloon until it lands at a charity concert hosted by Smash Mouth. All the racers are persuaded to give the money to charity, Nick forcing Sinclair and his fellow gamblers to match the amount raised (which is shown increasing at an alarming rate on the display board). The film ends with the stars leaping off the stage and crowd surfing with the exuberant audience.