Film Review: No bite in sporadically funny 'Pink Panther 2'
A redundant followup to an unnecessary remake, "The Pink Panther 2" provides another showcase for Steve Martin's impressive yet dead-end mimicry of the late Peter Sellers, who will forever own the role of the clumsy and ridiculous French police detective, Inspector Clouseau.
Although Alan Arkin played Clouseau in an all but forgotten 1968 sequel, "Inspector Clouseau," the French bumbler was the peculiar creation of a particular actor. The very talented Martin gives the role his all, but reviving Clouseau is as pointless an exercise in exhumation as "The All-New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy: For Love or Mummy," a 1999 malfunction with Bronson Pinchot and Gailard Sartain as Stan and Ollie that, unsurprisingly, failed to follow through on the promise of its title plural.
Video
"Pink Panther 2" stars Steve Martin and Emma Bunton in a Sony Pictures release. Rated PG for some suggestive humor, brief mild language and action. Watch »
Peter Iovino/Columbia Pictures
Steve Martin reprises his role as French police detective Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther 2."
More Beifuss on Movies 
Share and Enjoy 
No movie is produced to lose money, but the new "Pink Panther" films have no apparent reason to exist except to wring more dollars from an already throttled franchise that series creator Blake Edwards refused to let die even after his star was a goner. (Edwards' "Trail of the Pink Panther," "Curse of the Pink Panther" and "Son of the Pink Panther" all were produced after Sellers' 1980 death.) As country folk say about a pig, the series been exploited of everything but its squeal.
Having said all that, I now must concede that most moviegoers probably won't be troubled by such thoughts during "The Pink Panther 2." What is more likely to bother them is that the movie is only sporadically funny, although it does contain a clever sequence involving a toppling wine rack that could have been a slapstick classic if handled with the grace and assurance that Edwards brought to the first couple of Clouseau films. But remember, Edwards, now retired at 86, is a master filmmaker whose credits include such varied features as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Days of Wine and Roses." "The Pink Panther 2" -- as visually bland a movie as I've seen in years, despite its Paris and Rome locations -- is directed by Harald Zwart, responsible for "One Night at McCool's."
The supporting cast saves the film from utter non-distinction, as Clouseau is assigned to an international "dream team" of detectives that includes a wise Brit (Alfred Molina) a Japanese tech wizard (Yuki Matsuzaki), an Indian beauty (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) and a suave Italian (Andy Garcia), who begins romancing Clouseau's lady love (winsome Emily Mortimer). The detectives are on the hunt for arch-criminal "The Tornado," who has stolen the Magna Carta, the Shroud of Turin, the Pope's ring and the Pink Panther diamond. ("You are a very spiritual man, aren't you?" asks Clouseau, interrogating the Pope. "It's part of my job to read people.")
Jean Reno returns from the 1996 "The Pink Panther" as Clouseau's assistant; John Cleese replaces Kevin Kline from the earlier film as Clouseau's boss. Lily Tomlin is funny as a police counselor trying to teach Clouseau to be "politically correct," but her scenes could be removed from the film without changing the plotline by a fraction.
Overall, "The Pink Panther 2" seems unlikely to be the middle act in a trilogy. However, if the producers want to create a third film that would be a sure hit, they should consider this title: "Inspector Clouseau Vs. Paul Blart, Mall Cop."
-- John Beifuss, 529-2394
Comments » Disabled