Film Reviews

The Pink Panther

• Rating:
• Director: Shawn Levy
• Starring: Jean Reno
• Details: US, 93mins, PG.

The bumbling, useless detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Martin) is hired by his ever-suffering Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline) to solve the murder of a soccer coach Yves Gluant (Jason Statham) and to find who stole the famous Pink Panther diamond. With the help of Gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Reno), Clouseau tries his best to track down the suspected thief while keeping his eyes on the sultry Xani (Knowles).
Peter Sellers would have turned over in his grave if the last couple of Pink Panther movies he made before he died weren't as bad as this - they were though, and it is time to fire the inept detective for once and for all. Co-written by Martin and Len Blum, writer of Private Parts and Beethoven's 2nd, the looked for laughs fail to raise a snort throughout as most of the jokes seem to be the gags that were cut from previous films and filed under 'in case of remake'. Martin does his best to reinvent and pay homage to the great Sellers all at once, trying to cut-and-paste his brand of wackiness into the famous plastic Mac. His co-stars don't fare any better, as Reno's self parody feels awkward while Kline is no Herbert Lom and Knowles hangs around waiting to be looked at. The humour, like last year's The Producers, belongs to a by-gone era and any romantic thoughts of a resurgent Panther series are dead and gone - they're with Sellers in the grave.

Review by Gavin Burke