 Director :
Shawn Levy
Starring : Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno
Trailer for The Pink Panther
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The plot of The Pink Panther
Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Martin) is tasked by the duplicitous Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline) to solve the murder of a famous soccer coach and the disappearance of the infamous Pink Panther diamond.
The Pink Panther Review
Review by Brian Lowry:
Finally unleashed after multiple delays, "The Pink Panther" is neither the disaster one might have suspected nor a fully realized madcap farce; rather, Steve MartinSteve Martin's foray as Inspector Clouseau exhibits bursts of wild-and-craziness, but hardly enough to sustain even its relatively brief running time. The result is a feature-length "Saturday Night Live" sketch, with arid stretches interrupted by moments of irresistible silliness. The real question is whom this juvenile revival will attract, given that the franchise would seem to possess little resonance among modern youths -- its most likely audience -- beyond Henry Mancini's marvelously playful original score.Using the title of the 1964 original but little else, Martin (who shares script credit) starts out as Officer Clouseau, whose ineptitude catches the eye of Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin KlineKevin Kline, recycling his "French Kiss" accent). With France's soccer coach murdered and his famous Pink Panther diamond stolen, Dreyfus sees an opportunity to achieve fame and renown -- especially if he solves the cases after the newly promoted Clouseau bumbles it.So after a moribund introductory sequence, Clouseau is let loose on Paris, where he engages in a series of pratfalls, misunderstandings and puns, pursuing suspects that include the victim's girlfriend Xania (Beyonce Knowles), an international pop star. He's also saddled with a stoic sidekick, Ponton (Jean RenoJean Reno), whose job is to report back to Dreyfus. Review By Harvey Karten:
Steve Martin used to be the funniest guy around, especially in his incarnation as Larry Hubbard in “The Lonely Guy,” Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr in “The Man with Two brains,” and Pig-eye Jackson in “The Jerk.” He’s best when he shows his vulnerability and avoids going over the top into physical comedy. When the script call for him to act like a modern Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, the small-fry may laugh, but for a more mature audience, he’ll as many laughs as Woody Allen doing shtick in Billings, Montana. In “The Pink Panther,” his actions, which consist largely of pratfalls and knocking over large objects like a chandelier in the Waldorf-Astoria, are not using his real talent, which he shows in more subtle roles. After all, no matter how he’s costumed, he still exudes white-bread and straight laces, and could probably do a better job with wittier comedies of the Oscar Wilde genre. He was ably cast in last year’s “Shopgirl.”In “The Pink Panther,” he performs in the role of the well-known Inspector Clouseau, a backwater French cop who for cynical reasons is elevated by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline), to the status of inspector. When a soccer coach (Jason Statham) is murdered in full view of 12,000 fans at a soccer match (half the population of the Czech Republic serving as extras in the stands, the huge Pink Panther diamond he is wearing is stolen. The Chief Inspector expects the bumbling, fumbling Clouseau to mess up, whereupon Dreyfus would step in and solve the case.The Saturday-Night-Live skits that are expanded to a full-length picture find Clouseau in a variety of locales, where he is determined to solve the murder by interviewing a dozen suspects. Together with an assistant, Ponton (Jean Reno), Clouseau goes through a list of possible leads, gathering information from the likes of the victim’s girl, international pop star Xania (Beyonce Knowles) and Larocque (Roger Rees), who impersonates Hugh Hefner as owner of a casino. |
