What do you think of when you hear the words "pink panther"?
How many of you started humming?
While everyone knows the theme song by heart, the story of the Pink Panther is slightly less well-known. It is fitting that director Shawn Levy has taken it upon himself to familiarize our generation with the antics of Inspector Clouseau.
The 2006 version of "The Pink Panther" serves as a prequel to its 1964 predecessor. At the beginning of the film, French soccer coach Yves Gluant (Jason Statham) is murdered seconds after his team's victory, and his gigantic ring -- a diamond called the Pink Panther -- is missing. In order to distract the pesky media while solving the crime himself, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) assigns the most incompetent officer he can find to the case: Inspector Jean Clouseau (Steve Martin).
Clouseau, of course, is a more-than-horrible detective. Clumsy and idiotic, though extremely well intentioned, he manages inadvertently to create chaos and disorder as he interrogates the key suspects. Somehow, though, with incredible luck and the help of his assistant and secretary, the messes he creates have a way of cleaning themselves up.
Such a moronic, bumbling person cannot be played by just anyone, and Martin does an excellent job portraying the classic character. His accent and mannerisms are terrific; anything less would not be able to carry the movie. At one point Clouseau decides to give a suspect the "good cop, bad cop" routine -- by himself. Martin's borderline schizophrenic questioning is hysterical.
It is in moments like these, when the comedy lies upon Martin alone or with his supporting cast, that the movie shines. In particular, Jean Reno as Clouseau's straight man assistant and Emily Mortimer as his naive secretary and love interest make for a great supporting cast. They, like Martin, do what they can to make the movie achieve its highest potential with the material that they are given.
This material itself is less than stellar, though it may be in keeping with original Blake Edwards films. The comedy reverts to the physical or the completely and unnecessarily idiotic often in the film; much of focus of the movie is needlessly placed on physical gags accompanied by a more-than-adequate number of awkward sexual jokes that don't seem to fit with the rest of the very G-rated humor.
The comedy, all in all, is clich?©d and very predictable. It may not be clear exactly what kind of problem or destruction Clouseau will be causing next, but it is all too obvious when they will occur. If you've ever seen a movie with a similar imbecile as a lead, you can guess what the eventual outcome of one of his endeavors will be. Clouseau himself, in his traditionally confounding way, even warns his partner and the audience that "surprises are rarely unexpected."
Clouseau has several somewhat nonsensical lines like this, which induce either eye rolling or hysterical laughter, depending on your mood and personality. In this way, the stupidity of the movie is both a blessing and a curse. It has to be idiotic to achieve the intended comedic effect, but there is a fine line between great goofy slapstick, cleverly idiotic quips and just plain stupid. The movie treads this line like an inexperienced tightrope walker, and finishes off a shaky trek with a colossal fall.
Before this fall though, "The Pink Panther" does have its moments. While it might not be worth a trip into the city to see on the big screen, it could be worth renting with a group of friends who don't want to focus on anything serious. Watch it if you happen to be a fan of the so-dumb-it's-funny genre. If not, maybe you should just stick to humming the theme song.
