Film Reviews

The Pink Panther 2

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Andy Garcia
• Details: US / 92mins (PG).

Despite 2006's remake/reinvention of The Pink Panther stinking out the place, it made enough money to garner a follow up a green light. This time around Insp. Clouseau (Martin) has been busted down to parking tickets writing by boss Dreyfus (John Cleese) where he believes he's on a top-secret assignment. However, when a series of thefts of some of the world's most priceless treasures - including the Pink Panther diamond - is stolen by super thief The Tornado, a crack team (comprising of Garcia, Alfred Molina and Aishwarya Rai) is assembled to unmask the perpetrator, and Clouseau is asked on board. Why? It doesn't matter. Pink Panther 2 is not the kind of movie most people would hand over money to see in these tough economic times; it's more a movie that you'd watch if it came on TV some Sunday afternoon - and even then, you'd probably wish you were watching Peter Sellers. Despite odd moments of genuine hilarity (the wine bottle juggling being the best on show), they're so few and far between that those better moments can be deemed an accident. In between those high points, the eye candy (Mortimer and Rai) keeps interest alive until the next gag. Most of the humour is of a by-gone era and watching the once great comedian Steve Martin bumbling through tired old jokes is embarrassing.

Review by Gavin Burke