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1[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RatRace_3564.jpg]]
2
3->''"It's a horse race with animals who think, and lie... and cheat... and play dirty!"''
4-->-- EccentricMillionaire '''Donald Sinclair'''
5
6''Rat Race'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by [[Creator/ZuckerAbrahamsAndZucker Jerry Zucker]].
7
8It's another great day in Las Vegas, and casino tycoon Donald Sinclair (Creator/JohnCleese) is getting [[RichBoredom bored]]. So, six 'lucky' contestants are invited to meet with Sinclair for the gambling opportunity of a lifetime: a race to Silver City, New Mexico. The prize? A duffel bag stuffed with two million dollars, stored in a locker at the train station. Each contestant is given a GPS-tracker key to this locker and turned loose. Along the way, in their panic to get to the finish line first, the contestants have capers involving Adolf Hitler's car, a helicopter, a demolition derby, a rocket car, a human heart, and an ''Series/ILoveLucy'' fan convention. And a cow. Seriously, the cow becomes quite important.
9
10On the journey, they drag other people into the race, and the chaos increases.
11
12Of course, it's never as simple as it sounds, since not only do the competitors have each other to play against, they have no idea that they are being gambled with by other multi-millionaires, betting on who will get there first. In repeated cuts back to the casino it is shown that these millionaires have no qualms about betting with other people's dignity.
13
14Yes, it's a loose ripoff/remake of ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld''.
15
16The contestants and their allies:
17* Owen Templeton (Creator/CubaGoodingJr): A football referee who [[EpicFail announced the wrong winner after a coin toss]] and is now universally unpopular (except with Vera, who's not happy at her hair-stylist, who lost $800 on the game).
18* Duane (Creator/SethGreen) and Blaine Cody (Vince Vieluf): Two brothers who are trying various get-rich-quick schemes. Blaine speaks incoherently due to a recent tongue piercing.
19* Vera (Creator/WhoopiGoldberg) and Merrill (Lanei Chapman): Merrill is the long-lost daughter of Vera and the two have just met for the first time, when Merrill is an adult and trying to launch her own business.
20* The Pear family: Randy (Creator/JonLovitz) and Bev (Creator/KathyNajimy), who are on vacation at the casino with their kids Jason (Brody Smith) and Kimberly (Jillian Marie Hubert).
21* Nick Schaffer (Creator/BreckinMeyer) and Tracy Faucet (Creator/AmySmart): Nick is a lawyer, [[OnlySaneMan the calmest and most intelligent of the contestants]]. At first he doesn't even care about the race, suspecting it to be some kind of scam, until the Cody Brothers sabotage the airport. Eventually he recruits Tracy, a hot-headed helicopter pilot, as transportation and LoveInterest.
22* Enrico Pollini (Creator/RowanAtkinson): An Italian tourist with narcolepsy.
23
24Methods of travel used by the contestants include many types of cars, vans and trailers - including UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's Mercedes Benz and a courier van transporting a human heart - a taxi, a helicopter, a train, a tour bus bound for an ''Series/ILoveLucy'' convention, a tour bus bound for a mental institution, a Monster Truck, a Hot Air Balloon, a rocket car, a horse, and when all else fails, their own two feet.
25
26----
27
28!! This film contains examples of:
29* ActorAllusion: John Cleese's character is named Donald Sinclair, who was also the eccentric hotelier that provided the inspiration for Basil Fawlty in Cleese's show ''Series/FawltyTowers''.
30* AffablyEvil: Donald Sinclair is really quite charming when he's not treating other people like toys.
31* AlliterativeTitle: '''''Ra'''t '''Ra'''ce''.
32* AmbulanceChaser: Gloria Allred AsHerself. She first runs over to help a hapless bystander injured by the Cody brothers' attempted con, and then sees Enrico getting hit [[{{Irony}} by an ambulance]], thus scaring Zach into driving off with him.
33* ArabOilSheikh: One of the high rollers is a clearly affluent Arab who expresses dismay that his contestant, Enrico, fell asleep in the lobby.
34* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The bullet fired from the greedy mechanic's revolver flies alongside Vera and Merrill's rocket car as a gag to demonstrate how fast they're going even though the vehicle is said to have exceeded Mach 1 (the speed of sound in air)[[note]]1,235kph/767mph[[/note]]. In reality, most bullets go roughly 2.5 times faster than Mach 1 on average.
35* BadassBiker: AllBikersAreHellsAngels and really aggressive. Although not without reason -- after all, both Mr. ''and'' Mrs. Pear had just flipped her off (Mr. Pear by accident and Mrs. Pear to badly demonstrate what he did), and Mr. Pear complimented her: "[[FreudianSlip I really like your dyke]]... er, [[VerbalBackspace bike!]]" Also, driving around a car decorated with swastikas tends to inspire anger.
36* BatDeduction: Blaine sees the Pears' minivan and deduces that it must be Randy without actually seeing him.
37* BavarianFireDrill:
38** Owen and the bus driver. Once he has all the man's clothes, he just starts driving the bus and the cosplayers are none the wiser.
39--->'''Owen:''' And your hat.\
40'''Bus Driver:''' Why do you need my hat?\
41'''Owen:''' For her...her...'''vagina.'''
42** Vera and Merrill steal the world's fastest car by pretending to be {{Hood Ornament Hottie}}s showing it off.
43--->'''Driver:''' ''[introducing the car]'' Any questions?\
44'''Merrill:''' ''[behind him, in the car]'' HOW DO YOU START IT?\
45'''Driver:''' ''[not turning around]'' Ah yes, there is a large lever next to the seat--\
46''[car roars off]''
47* TheBigDamnKiss: Tracy gives one on Nick after her helicopter hijinks lead to a forced landing. It's enough to convince him to come along.
48* TheBigRace: Six contestants who are selected by a group of compulsive-gambler multi-millionaires to compete in a race from Las Vegas to Silver City, New Mexico for a two million dollar prize... hilarious hijinx ensue.
49* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: None of the main characters get to keep any of the money they spent the whole movie chasing after, but then again the money went to charity, none of the main characters get in severe trouble, legal or otherwise, and the Jerkass billionaires who were betting on the sick little game are going to end up giving a huge sum of their own money to charity.]]
50* BoltOfDivineRetribution[=/=]SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Subversion/variation, with Tracy saying to the mechanic that rips them off that it was "un-Christian", the mechanic replying asking for God to smite him... and then a rocket car drives by, and makes a sonic boom that knocks down his ramshackle garage.
51* BrickJoke: Pollini's narcolepsy. Also cows.
52** Mr. Pear: "The Volkswagen Beetle was used by the Nazis. I would not be comfortable driving around in one." Some hours later, the Pears are driving Hitler's car. Next to another Volkswagen Beetle.
53* TheCameo:
54** Oscar winner Creator/KathyBates as the [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Squirrel Lady]].
55** And who knew [[Series/LoisAndClark Superman]] would cheat on his girlfriend?
56** Plus Music/SmashMouth's concert at the end.
57** Gloria Allred, probably the most noted (and ruthless) attorney in the country, [[AsHimself as herself]]. Understandably, the characters have an OhCrap moment when they inadvertantly injure someone and she's around.
58** A deleted scene shows that Owen ended up so close to Silver City because after being chased by the stranded Lucys, he snuck into a house that was being moved by truck. Said house was owned by Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage, who delivers a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on Owen, and throws him off the house.
59* CaptainOblivious: While the contestants are making a dash for the airport, the Cody brothers are looking at a map trying to find it. Behind them, a plane is coming in for a landing.
60* CatchPhrase: Enrico keeps repeating, "Issa ''race!''"
61* ChekhovsGun: A pickup truck carrying spare car parts. One of them falls off, Zach's ambulance runs over it, and it causes the heart to fall out of its container. Later, during the motorcycle gang attack on the Pears, they run it over, causing the cigarette lighter to fly into Randy's mouth.
62* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Vicky the hooker.]]
63* CloudCuckoolander: Vera. She's actually ''excited'' by the prospect of getting scammed (though she might have just been too dumb to know what it meant.)
64** Enrico, but what did you expect from someone played by Creator/RowanAtkinson?
65* CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise: Randy with a Hitler-moustache-looking lipstick smudge. Driving a Mercedes decked out in swastikas. Doing what appears to be Nazi salutes. As a burnt tongue makes his speech sound ambiguously German. To an audience of World War II veterans. ''And giving them [[AccidentalUnfortunateGesture the finger.]]''
66* ColonyDrop: Referenced. When everyone arrives in the suite, Donald Sinclair tells them that an asteroid is going to destroy Earth and he's picked them to help repopulate the planet. After giving them a moment to be horrified, he then bursts into laughter, saying he couldn't resist.
67* ComebackTomorrow: A non-insulting comeback: while Nick is flirting with Tracy. They're both reading the same biography of Charles Lindbergh, and she tells him that she's up to the part where "[[BlatantLies he's just had a sex change]]". A moment later he learns that she's a pilot.
68-->'''Nick:''' Are there many female pilots?\
69'''Tracy:''' There's at least one.\
70'''Nick:''' When I walk away, I'm gonna think of something great to say to that.\
71'''Tracy:''' Good. Mail it to me.
72** [[BrickJoke A few scenes later]] he comes back having realized the obvious comeback: "Two if you count Lindbergh." He then has to recap because Tracy had forgotten the joke.
73* ContrivedCoincidence: The movie has so many of them it's difficult to know where to start - but that's part of the fun.
74* CosmopolitanCouncil: The international consortium of {{Eccentric Millionaire}}s
75* CrazyCatLady: Crazy ''Squirrel'' Lady, played by Creator/KathyBates. She really loves those squirrels.
76* CrazyJealousGuy: Played for laughs. After Tracy discovers him cheating with his ex-girlfriend and takes off in his truck with Nick, Sean has the nerve to tell Nick to stay away from his girlfriend if he knows what's good for him. Tracy responds by closing his head in the car window while it's still running, stuffing his ex's bra in his mouth, and then dropping him like a sack of potatoes on the freeway.
77* CreditsGag: The end credits disclaimer reads: "American Humane Association monitored the animal action. No animal was harmed in the making of the film. Only actors were harmed in the making of this film."
78* CuteAndPsycho: Tracy, if the attack on her boyfriend is any indicative. The Squirrel Lady too.
79* CrowdSurfing: How the movie ends. Variety II.
80* DancePartyEnding: The movie ends with all the characters dancing (and then stage-diving) at a Smash Mouth concert as the band played "All Star."
81* DarkHorseVictory: [[spoiler: Subverted. Grisham and Vicki seem like they're about to get away with the prize money, leaving the actual contestants in the dust... and then [[ChekhovsGun a cow]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext falls on them.]]]]
82* DeadpanSnarker:
83-->'''Donald Sinclair:''' Theoretically, you have been racing for about 40 seconds now, and so far, Mr. Schaefer is winning, because he's nearest to the door!
84* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
85-->'''Duane:''' What do you mean "that's it"? I'm not giving up! And neither are you! And neither am I!
86* DerangedTaxiDriver: Incompetent NFL ref Owen Templeton catches a ride with a seemingly friendly cab driver while racing to get to a cash prize; unfortunately, he doesn't realize the driver lost a bet on a football game because of Owen's botched call. The driver ends up stranding him in the middle of the desert in his boxers.
87* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: All of the money being accidentally donated to charity at the end. That's not to say charity isn't a good thing, but after all everyone went through, none of them got to keep a cent.]]
88* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Done by the Cody brothers several times - to stop air traffic out of the airport, sabotage the Pear family's Ford Aerostar van, and to make a copy of the key so they can split up. The first time it works but their car is destroyed in the process, so they have to rent a new one (from a trainee no less), the second time Randy just steals another car, and the third time totally backfires when the clerk hears what the key is for and runs off with it.
89* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Randy Pear steals Hitler's touring car after the family ends up at a Klaus Barbie museum (which has 'no connection' to the doll whatsoever):
90-->'''Jason:''' I can't believe it, Dad. You stole Adolf Hitler's Mercedes-Benz.\
91'''Randy:''' Well, Hitler had it comin'. What goes around comes around.\
92'''Kimberly:''' Dad, they're gonna be pissed.\
93'''Randy:''' Eh, they're always pissed, Honey. They're Nazis. It's like it's their job.
94* DisasterDominoes: The whole film is full of them, and much of the humor is based around how things just get worse and worse.
95* DisposableVagrant: Zack agonizes over the poor condition of the heart he was transporting before deciding to find one of these to "get" a replacement. He then asks [[FunnyForeigner Enrico]] [[OhCrap about his background]].
96* DisproportionateRetribution:
97** Tracy upon seeing her boyfriend making out with his Ex.
98** The Crazy Squirrel Lady and her 'shortcut' to those that don't buy a squirrel from her. Considering her very accurate directions, the number of cars there, and the skeleton that slides out of one, it looks like she's been doing it for a ''long'' time...
99** The taxi driver who lost a bet because of Owen's bad call leaves Owen in the middle of the desert.
100* DistractedByTheSexy: What happens to the Cody Brothers while driving when they look at a women's interesting nipple piercings. Which leads them to be [[RuleOfFunny ambushed by a monster truck rally]]
101* DrivesLikeCrazy: Exaggerated with ''a helicopter''.
102* DropTheCow: One tied to an hot air balloon, nevertheless.
103* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Despite that nobody keeps the money, all 6 teams still get something for all their troubles in the end. Owen is no longer unpopular for picking the wrong winner, Merrill may start a relationship with him, Vera gets to spend time with her daughter, the Pears get the family quality time of their lives, Blair has a new girlfriend, his brother Duane has turned over a new leaf, Nick and Tracy start a relationship with each other, and Enrico... well, he was happy to begin with.]]
104* EatingTheEyeCandy: When Owen has a breakdown and strips off his (stolen) bus driver uniform in front of the Lucys, the one that's a DragQueen is clearly enjoying the show.
105* EccentricMillionaire: Sinclair. He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]].
106-->'''Sinclair:''' I can do whatever I like! I'm eccentric! Raowr!
107* EpicRace: Six strangers race over 560 miles (900 km) from Las Vegas to a train station in the middle of nowhere to claim a $2 million prize
108* EurekaMoment: Nick at first decides not to participate in what he believes to be a scam anyway, but when he finds out that Tracy's ability to fly a helicopter to Roswell, New Mexico is unaffected by the Cody brothers' sabotaging the radar system for fixed wing, he realizes he could use that to his advantage. When she asks him if he needs a ride, he frantically runs back to the trash can in which he threw away his key to re-retrieve it.
109* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Duane eventually gives his share away because it's what his mother would have wanted.
110* ExposedEmbarrassingPurchase: Nick is horrified to find out that he's being billed by the hotel he stayed at for watching "Afro Whores" on his in-room TV (especially because there's a black family waiting in line behind him).
111* FanConvention: Owen hijacks a bus heading to an ''Series/ILoveLucy'' con, which is thus full of [[CelebrityImpersonator women]] ([[WholesomeCrossdresser mostly women, anyway...]]) [[CosPlay dressed as Lucy]]. A [[invoked]]DeletedScene showed that after the bus broke down, leaving them stranded, a second bus pulls over to help... full of men on their way to the same convention, dressed as Ricky.
112* {{Fetish}}: Blaine clearly has a thing for piercings; sporting several himself and becoming ''very'' interested in a girl covered in them.
113* FindingABraInYourCar: A truck, actually.
114* FreezeFrameBonus: One of the cows Blaine hits [[http://i.imgur.com/rGneWOE.jpg has spots in the shape of the world map.]]
115* ForeShadowing: Randy and Beverly Pear tell Cody he can forget about buying the Volkswagen Beetle when he's old enough to drive, as it was used by the Nazis, thereby implying they are Jewish. This is further affirmed when they stop by what they think to be a Barbie Doll Museum, only to find out it's actually the 'Klaus' Barbie Museum, employed by a group of Neo-Nazis who idolize the Nazi as if he were a hero.
116** When Nick and Tracy are talking in the airport, she says she's flying to New Mexico because the company's fleet of helicopters is being repainted, setting up the can of paint in her chopper that she hurls down at her boyfriend.
117* FreudianSlip: "I really like your dyke ... BIKE!" Bev immediately {{Facepalm}}s when Randy does this.
118* FromBadToWorse: After being told to go to Silver City, New Mexico, the contestants come up with the idea to take a charter flight to the airport nearest there and make their way over, except for Enrico, who suffered a bout of narcolepsy, and Nick [[RefusalOfTheCall who thought the whole thing was a scam]]. Duane and Blaine couldn't secure plane tickets, so they decide to destroy the airport's radar antenna. HilarityEnsues.
119* FunnyBackgroundEvent: After the Pears get pulled over (for having Kim poop out the window among other things), one of the officers is cleaning the windshield.
120* FunnyForeigner: Enrico Pollini.
121* TheGamblingAddict: Along with betting on the contestants, Sinclair and his associates bet on some other things to pass time - namely, the first chocolate the butler will find, how much money will a hooker bill for a [[ComicSutra ridiculous sex act]], and who will puke first as they fly to New Mexico (the pilot is deliberately shaking the plane).
122%% * GenkiGirl: Tracy.
123* GodwinsLawOfFacialHair: Randy insists his wife Bev to not use the lipstick they found in Hitler's car because they're Jewish and the lipstick likely belongs to Eva Braun, the wife of Hitler. He smears the lipstick on top of the steering wheel. Later on, when trying to outrun an angry biker gang, Randy ends up crashing into a WWII veteran gathering and smacking his face on that same steering wheel. When he gets out of the car and try to explain the situation, the lipstick had given Randy a toothbrush-esque imprint that really didn't help Randy since he also had burnt his tongue and now talks in gibberish that vaguely sound German.
124* GoodFeelsGood: As reluctant as [[spoiler:Duane is to hand over his share of the money, when he does, he immediately leaps and cheers with everyone else.]]
125* GotVolunteered: Done as a comeuppance to Sinclair and his associates at the end.
126* HasAType: Blaine is into girls who are as pierced as he is. It does him no good when he's driving and the brothers meet a pair of punk girls on the road. The one closest to Blaine starts to compare piercings and Blaine plays along, until she opens her shirt and shows nipple rings, with two chains attached that go down below... While Duane is briefly impressed but recovers, Blaine is so DistractedByTheSexy that he runs right off the road and into a monster truck rally.
127* HeadsOrTails: Owen fumbled the coin toss at a crucial football game and, as a result, is mocked by everyone who recognizes him for making such a basic error. He defends himself by pointing out that he was given a commemorative coin with a design that made it hard to tell which side of the coin was which.
128* HeavySleeper: The narcoleptic Enrico.
129* HellishCopter: Tracy uses her helicopter to exact revenge on her cheating boyfriend. It subsequently overheats, leading to a forced landing.
130* HitThemInThePocketbook: In the finale the contestants have spent the entire film being toyed with by Donald Sinclair and his rich friends in a big race for money, and now they're about to lose the money they were promised after they stumble upon a fundraiser for kids and can't bring themselves to say no to the little children in front of an audience. So they decide to announce to the audience that not only are they donating all their winnings to charity, but that Donald Sinclair and his friends have promised to match the donations dollar for dollar. Cue Sinclair screaming in anguish as the donations start pouring in.
131* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: [[spoiler:The "Pepto Bismal" bet, which is done by Sinclair and his associates as a bit of side entertainment while they await the outcome of the main race. However, it ultimately ends up backfiring and derailing the entire contest, as Vicky the Hooker learns of the prize money, steals it, and makes a run for it with Harry.]]
132* HonestJohnsDealership: The mechanic who overcharges Tracy $500 for fixing their truck with $20 worth of lubricants and sealant. When she objects to his "un-Christian" lack of ethics, he jokes that the Lord should give him a sign; CueTheFlyingPigs when the rocket car sonic booms past his garage and it implodes.
133* HumansAreBastards: Played for laughs in this instance. The immoral and desperate crap people would pull on each other and even their own loved ones for $2 million [[spoiler:though the ending is kind of a subversion]].
134** Even from those who weren't racing like the organ delivery guy who was willing ''to kill a drifter'' when he lost it or the Vegas cabbie who left Owen in the desert since he lost money from Owen's bad call.
135* HypocriticalHumor:
136** After the Pear family steals the Nazi mobile, Jason is seen in the back playing Hitler's harmonica, much to the dismay of his father, Randy, who orders him to stop. [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, after donating the money to charity and everyone starts dancing to Smash Mouth's "All Star" song, out of nowhere Randy pulls out said harmonica and starts playing it jubilantly to the beat of the music. Notwithstanding all of the events we witness between the Nazi mobile theft and the charity concert, it would have made one heck of a GilliganCut]].
137** While Duane and Blaine are getting a duplicate key made:
138--->'''Duane:''' You remember where we're going?\
139'''Blaine:''' ''[mumbles]'' Silver City, New Mexico.\
140'''Duane:''' Right, train station, locker zero-zero-one. [''Lloyd quietly eavesdrops on the conversation while making the duplicate key'']\
141'''Blaine:''' ''[mumbles]'' 'Ero ero one.\
142'''Duane:''' Rule number one: discretion. Don't talk to anybody.\
143'''Blaine:''' ''[mumbles]'' I won't, I promise.\
144'''Duane:''' I'm serious, we're talking about $2 million dollars, in cash. People would just kill us to get their hands on that key.
145* INeedToGoIronMyDog: The Pears make up the following excuse to leave the "Barbie museum":
146-->'''Neo-Nazi Tour Guide:''' You're leaving?\
147'''Randy:''' What? ''[laughs nervously]'' No-- Yes, well, we have a 4:30 book burning... and then we have a--\
148'''Beverly:''' Another christening.\
149'''Randy:''' Yes, a christening... for another one of our many, white, Christian, non-Jewish, uh... friends--\
150'''Beverly:''' Family.\
151'''Randy:''' Family, relatives--\
152'''Beverly:''' Blood relatives.\
153'''Randy:''' [[LineOfSightName The Himmler... Himmler-Hesse... von... Sturichenbergs.]]
154** Also, when Tracy asks Nick what happened to his friend who is being treated in Silver City, he comes up with the implausible lie that they were bitten by a shark and was rushed to Silver City because "they have a good shark attack unit there."
155* InvoluntaryCharityDonation: What the $2 million end up becoming. Sinclair & Co. are also duped into helping the charity event.
156* JustTrainWrong: The train that Enrico hops into resembles a German ICE, but aside from the Acela trainsets running between Washington and Boston, is nothing like an American passenger train.
157* KarmaHoudini: Notwithstanding all the hell each set of contestants has to go through along the way to Silver City, [[spoiler: [[ShaggyDogStory only to arrive and end up being strongly persuaded to give up the money that represented the reason behind their journey in the first place]]]], none of the characters are ever punished for the crimes they commit along the way. This includes, but is not limited to, speeding and reckless driving in general; the Cody brothers' sabotaging the airport radar system, vandalizing the Pears' van in the Barbie Museum parking lot, and later stealing a monster truck from a monster truck rally; the Pears' subsequently stealing Adolf Hitler's Mercedes Benz upon discovering the damage done to their vehicle; Merrill and Vera Baker stealing a rocket car on public display; Tracy's pursuit of Shawn in the helicopter chase scene, followed by her and Nick [[RefugeInAudacity siphoning gas from a police car]]; Owen impersonating a bus driver and forcing the real bus driver to give him his clothes as if to leave him stranded, and Enrico Pollini stowing away on a train. [[spoiler: Unlike the contestants in its [[Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld predecessor]], the contestants in ''this'' film are ultimately ''praised'' for their apparent generosity at the benefits concert.]]
158** The deranged cab driver who leaves Owen to die in the middle of the desert disappears form the story and is never punished for his attempted murder.
159* KinkyRolePlaying: Harold, the casino owner's personal secretary, invites a prostitute and presents her with a rather creative proposal. After she names a price for this particular "date", it turns out that Donald Sinclair and his clients were all placing bets on it.
160-->'''Vicki:''' So Harry, what can I do for you?
161-->'''Harold Grisham:''' Okay... here's what I want. First we both get naked.
162-->'''Vicki:''' So far so good.
163-->'''Harold Grisham:''' Except... we're both wearing sailor hats. Then we get into a jacuzzi filled with Pepto-Bismol, I clip your toenails, and you shave my buttocks.
164-->'''Vicki:''' Pardon me?
165-->'''Harold Grisham:''' Naked, Jacuzzi, Pepto-Bismol, toenails, shave my buttocks. How much would that cost?
166-->'''Vicki:''' Harry, you have quite an imagination.
167* LadyLooksLikeADude: The bartender
168-->'''Owen:''' Excuse me, miss? ''[Bartender turns around]'' Oh, sorry! I thought you were a woman!\
169'''Bartender:''' I am a woman.\
170'''Owen:''' ...
171* LaserGuidedKarma: On the other hand, Sinclair and the millionaires who caused the whole thing get their just desserts, [[spoiler:[[InvoluntaryCharityDonation being forced to donate whatever ends being gathered by the benefits concert]], which rises by the minute. Sinclair understandably screams.]]
172* LastMinuteHookup: Implied with Owen and Merril; played straight with [[BirdsOfAFeather Blaine and the piercing-girl (who ALSO has a speech impediment).]]
173* LineOfSightName: When the Pear family (who hasn't revealed their real family name) is about to leave the Klaus Barbie museum full of Neo-Nazi skinheads, they say they're the "Himmler... Himmler-Hesse... von... Sturichenbergs."
174* LookBehindYou: After Enrico catches on to Zack's plan to use ''his'' heart as a replacement, he implements this to flee.
175-->'''Enrico:''' Oh, look, a dreefter! [[DisposableVagrant Let's kill him]]!
176* LovelyAssistant: Vera and Merrill steal the rocket car by pretending to be this for the team of scientists.
177* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney: The prize awaiting the racers in Silver City.
178* MacGuffinMelee: ...and what happens when they get there.
179* MagicalDefibrillator: When the courier Zack touches an electric fence [[BeatStillMyHeart while holding a heart]]. But it's RuleOfFunny so it's okay.
180* MisplacedNamesPoster: As pictured above, none of the eight actors are directly above their names. For starters, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg is standing on Cuba Gooding's name. In the case of Vince Vieluf, his agent tried to pressure the studio to give him top billing, and not only did the studio not do so, he was omitted from any promotional material. Vince fired his agent soon after.
181* MistakenForPedophile: Pollini after his key is taken by a baby.
182* MenacingMuseum: The Pear family decide to take a break from their journey to visit a "Barbie museum" seen on a street sign, at the daughter's insistence. It turns out to be a museum dedicated to infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie and run by Neo-Nazis. The Pears are implied to be Jewish, making this especially troubling for them.
183* NiceGuy: The scientists conducting the rocket car experiment. When Vera and Merrill stumble into the area, one of the scientists immediately gives them water to slake their thirst, and after they steal the rocket car, none of the scientists are angry (not even the designated driver). Instead, they celebrate when the experiment proves successful.
184* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
185** For the most part of the race, Enrico is in dead last place, sleeping in the lobby. Then the Cody brothers stop all air traffic out of the airport, thus preventing a heart from being flown to El Paso for transplant. That heart gets put into a van to be driven there, and on the way it stops to pick up Enrico. [[spoiler: After escaping the driver and catching a bullet train, Enrico gets to the locker ''before everyone else''.]]
186** When Nick and Tracy siphon gas from a police car. Duane and Blaine speed past, and the cop decides to stop them, but since most of the gas in his tank has been siphoned, he rolls to a stop about a mile down the road, allowing them to get away.
187* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: First of all the Heart Courier [[TemptingFate is a little TOO eager to take a little peek at the human heart he's transporting]]. Then it takes him next to no time to consider killing a 'drifter' and cutting out his heart to replace it when it's lost. And about as much time to consider Enrico as that drifter. He looks pretty disappointed when Enrico gets away too...
188* NoArcInArchery: A bullet running a straight line beside a supersonic car.
189* NoRespectGuy: Nick Schaffer.
190* NoRulesRacing: Donald Sinclair sets the race up this way to make it more exciting. "A horse race with animals that can think and plan and lie and cheat and ''play dirty''."
191* NobodyPoops: Subverted with Kimberley Pear. Poor girl.
192-->'''Kimberley:''' [[ToiletHumor Dad, I'm prairie-dogging it!]]\
193'''Randy:''' What the hell does ''that'' mean?\
194'''Jason:''' [[TooMuchInformation You know, how prairie-dogs stick their heads in and out of the ground.]]\
195'''Randy:''' [[LateToThePunchline Oh...]] ''[[invoked]][[{{Squick}} Oh!]]'' I do ''not'' want to picture that!
196* NoodleImplement: When Harold Grisham invites Vicky into his room, he makes [[KinkyRolePlaying a strange proposal]]:
197-->'''Vicky:''' So, Harold, what can I do for you?\
198'''Harold:''' Okay, here's what I want: First we both get naked.\
199'''Vicky:''' So far, so good.\
200'''Harold:''' Only we're wearing sailor hats.\
201'''Vicky:''' Mmm.\
202'''Harold:''' And then we get into a jacuzzi filled with Pepto-Bismol... and I clip your toenails... and you shave my buttocks.
203** When she mentions that it would cost $3,000, it turns out that some odds makers were hiding behind the curtain.
204* NotSoAboveItAll:
205** Nick Schaffer starts out as the only one not convinced by Sinclair's too-good-to-be-true offer. But when he meets a helicopter pilot just as all the planes have been grounded, including all the other contestants…
206** Randy eventually admits that the "Hitlermobile" really is a beautiful car, pointing out the lovely mahogany. And at the end of the film, [[spoiler:he's playing Hitler's harmonica at the concert.]]
207--->"ARE YOU INSANE?! THIS IS ''HITLER'S CAR!!''"
208* OhCrap
209** Wayne Knight's character upon striking Enrico with his van... and the accident is seen by Gloria Allred.
210--->'''[[AmbulanceChaser Allred:]]''' ''[calling down from casino balcony]'' DON'T WORRY! I saw the whole thing, I'll be right down!\
211'''Driver:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Shit!]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Gloria Allred...]]
212** Sean, Tracy's then-boyfriend, when he sees her helicopter approaching while having a TwoPersonPoolParty with his "ex" Charlene. Hilariously, his first instinct is to dunk Charlene under the water, as if drowning the poor woman would hide her from Tracy.
213** The Cody brothers realizing a monster truck is on the way.
214* OnlySaneMan: Nick Schaffer could be classed as this, as he has the sanest approach to finding a way to win, and the best idea when they get to meet Smash Mouth. Too bad he teams up with Tracy Faucet...
215* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Vera, who has been invariably cheerful and affable throughout entire movie despite all hardships that befallen her -- a complete opposite of her [[HairTriggerTemper short-fused]] daughter Merrill -- [[RageBreakingPoint finally loses her temper]] near the end of the movie, when she grabs the doctor by her throat and furiously demands to open the bus' door. Even Merrill seems nonplussed by her mother's sudden angry outburst.
216* ThePollyanna: Enrico. His innocuous comments are treated with sarcasm or dismissal by the other characters, and as revealed later in the film, he's got no blood relatives left alive. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he's narcoleptic]]. In spite of these things, he's easily the happiest and most optimistic character in the film.
217* PrecisionFStrike: Blaine delivers one when he notices the locksmith stole their key... if the audience can understand it.
218-->'''Blaine:''' 'at 'othur 'ucking 'ath'urd!
219* PunctuatedForEmphasis: As Vera and Merrill are rolling down a hill after being given directions by the squirrel lady, there are signs which give the following message: YOU. SHOULD. HAVE. BOUGHT. A. SQUIRREL.
220* RefusalOfTheCall: Nick initially throws his key in the trash. Then the control tower is down, Tracy offers him a helicopter ride, and he turns the bin upside down to get the key back.
221* RichBoredom: The original reason for the race is a bored billionaire wanting to gamble on random people's humiliation.
222* RunningGag:
223** The high rollers keep making increasingly ridiculous bets on everything in sight.
224** Owen keeps stealing clothes and the Cody brothers keep accidentally ending up pursuing each other in cars.
225* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Nick and Tracy.
226* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Blaine, when he sees the jeep being dragged up the radar tower.
227* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:None of the characters get a dime of the prize money; some of them are still in dire need of some money as they went broke during the events, ruined their careers or are on the run. For example, Tracy's earlier attack against her former boyfriend means she will have her pilot's license revoked, leaving her without a job, and will probably end up serving serious jail time (she outright admits this after crashing the helicopter). Not to mention, she has officially lost her boyfriend forever (though the guy ''was'' cheating on her, and she and Nick seem to be getting along).]]
228* SchmuckBait: The two million dollars in Silver City. After being told about the race, the contestants take a moment to talk about how there's obviously something shifty going on with the whole deal, and Nick mentions that Sinclair makes his fortune playing people for chumps, and everyone decides that it's not worth upending their plans to play his game. Cut to just about everyone except Nick racing down the stairs.
229* ShellShockSilence: The sequence where the Cody brothers struggle to leave their about-to-be-crushed car [[TooDumbToLive (even though it's a convertible...)]] plays in slow motion with only the engine of the incoming monster truck as noise.
230* ShortCutsMakeLongDelays:
231** Vera and Merrill. They should have bought a squirrel...
232** The Cody brothers' great idea to split up so they can take different routes lands them in a lot of bother with a hardware store guy, a hot air balloon, and cows.
233* ASimplePlan: Heading from Las Vegas to Silver City doesn't sound so hard, right? In real life it's an eleven-hour drive along a single highway.
234* SimpletonVoice: Blaine Cody, due to his swollen and badly infected tongue the result of a self-piercing gone wrong.
235* SnobbyHobbies: The whole premise is that a bunch of bored, gambling-obsessed millionaires entertain themselves by getting a bunch of random shmucks to chase after a bag filled with money and placing bets on which of them will win. (They also engage in a lot of crazy side bets along the way.)
236* SoulSuckingRetailJob: It's briefly touched on that Randy works at Home Depot. He still makes it clear that he hates every second of it.
237* StandardSnippet: "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" while Duane and Blaine sabotage the radar tower, "Ride Of The Valkyries" as Tracy does her helicopter attack, "Brindisi" when the Codys are chasing the keymaker.
238* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Notably averted. Sinclair tells them that their key rings have tracking devices in them so he can track their progress, but this just makes them show up on a map graphic -- everyone watching is confused when a traffic jam grinds all of them to a near-halt.
239* SurvivalMantra: As everything is going wrong around him, Owen just keeps driving the bus, repeating to himself, ''"Two million dollars. Two million dollars."''
240* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: When the Pears are leaving the Barbie Museum and the Neo-Nazis ask them why, they explain they have a variety of non-Jewish activities on their agenda, which is almost another way of saying upfront that they aren't Jewish, despite the fact that none of the neo-Nazis even ''asked'' them about their race or religion in the first place. The confused look on each tour guide's face confirms that there's something not quite right about the Pears' explanation for their sudden departure.
241* TakeOurWordForIt: Silver City is said to be a small town, but the nearby monster truck rally and Smash Mouth Concert/Fundraiser seem to beg to differ.
242** It's possible that the track where the monster truck rally is held is frequented by people living in different towns miles away from Silver City, and the county fairgrounds, where the charity concert takes place, may be the cheapest venue that allowed them to play, and people were bussed in from Silver City, or other nearby towns. Dubious, but possible.
243* TemptingFate: When Billy Ray the mechanic charges Nick and Tracy a jacked-up price for fixing their car:
244-->'''Nick:''' About how much we owe you?\
245'''Billy Ray:''' 500 bucks.\
246'''Tracy:''' For what? For 2 quarts and sealant? No, that's 20 bucks, tops. Here's 40 dollars, that's double what it's worth.\
247'''Billy Ray:''' ''[pulls out a gun]'' Hold it! Another little tool no mechanic should be without!\
248'''Nick:''' ''[reluctantly]'' Fine, here's your money... But let me tell you something, Billy Ray. What goes around comes around.\
249'''Tracy:''' This is so un-Christian!\
250'''Billy Ray:''' Un-Christian? ''Ha''! Well, if the good Lord doesn't like the way I conduct business, let him say something! [[SarcasmMode Let him gimme a sign. Oh Lord, I'm here, and I'm listening! Helloooooo!]]\
251''[[[CueTheFlyingPigs Veera and her daughter zoom by in their rocket car, and Billy Ray's garage and gas station collapse from the sonic boom]]]''
252* ThoseWackyNazis: Some Neo-Nazis run a Barbie museum... dedicated to Nazi official Klaus Barbie, not the doll. Then the Pears steal Adolf Hitler's car (or Nazimobile, as Randy calls it), which was on display.
253-->"They're always pissed, honey. They're ''Nazis''. It's like it's their ''job''."
254* TooDumbToLive:
255** Enrico Pollini, who is so absent-minded that he got hit by a speeding car for running onto the road trying to hail a taxi, and also crazy enough to jump ''onto'' a speeding train. Later he does show enough savviness to realize exactly ''what'' the Heart Courier wants when he starts asking him if he has any relatives that would miss him.
256** The Cody brothers are good at this as well, mostly for failing to think their plans through all that well. The scene at the airport tower is a perfect example of this.
257* TrainEscape: Pollini jumps on a running high-velocity train - [[ArtisticLicensePhysics and embarks into it]]!
258* TrashyTouristTrap: Midway to the big destination, Jillian spots a roadside sign for a "Barbie Museum" and begs to go. Randy refuses until his wife Bev forces the issue... and to the entire family's horror they [[HistoricalCharacterConfusion find out]] it's not about [[Franchise/{{Barbie}} the beloved doll]], but real life member of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie SS Klaus "The Butcher of Lyon" Barbie]] and the museum is run for and by Neo Nazis.
259* TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: Nick explicitly states that he and Tracy have roughly a three hour lead on the others. Their very next scene, not long after, has them obliviously cross paths with the Cody brothers.
260* TheUnintelligible: Blaine Cody and the Piercing Girl due to their tongue piercings.
261* UniversalDriversLicence: Averted a little with Owen trying to start the bus, and Vera and Merrill having to ask how to start the jet-car after sneaking into it during the press conference.
262* UnsettlingGenderReveal: How Owen finds out not all Lucys are the same.
263* UnstoppableRage: Tracy's reaction to finding out her boyfriend has been cheating on her.
264* VivaLasVegas: Although the first part of the movie takes place there, the characters are in town on vacation or business, and make their way out of town when the billionaire club tells them to go get [[AMacGuffinFullOfMoney the money in Silver City, New Mexico.]]
265* WeMeetAgain: Owen gets into a taxi with a guy who lost twenty thousand dollars on the game he called wrong. He gives him the slip at the airport, but then runs into him again on his way out. The taxi driver drops him off in the middle of the desert.
266* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Zack is never seen or heard from again after his running into an electric fence jump-starts the heart transplant, so we can only wonder if the heart ever made its way to the transplantee...
267** Grisham, Vicky, the key store employee, and that cow, are never seen or mentioned again after the car they're in crashes. [[invoked]][[FridgeHorror Did they die?]]
268** In a deleted scene, they're in the process of being arrested by the police.
269* WomanScorned[=/=]{{Yandere}}: Tracy goes instantly psycho when she finds her boyfriend cheating on her with his ex.
270* WomensMysteries: {{Invoked}}. In a subversion of MuggedForDisguise, Owen [[BavarianFireDrill convinces the bus driver to give him his uniform]] by exploiting their mutual [[ArtisticLicenseBiology complete ignorance]] (and {{squick}}) about childbirth.
271* WorldOfHam: Only Breckin Meyer isn't a LargeHam.
272* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: A number of Sinclair's high rollers are shocked when Enrico falls asleep before he even leaves the casino lobby.
273* ZergRush: The Lucys, when they learn that Owen is not a real bus driver but a phony who ruined their bus and thus their vacation.

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