The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther
Studio: MGM
Rated: PG
Website: http://www.pinkpantherthe movie.com
Release Date: 2006-02-10
Cast: Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Beyoncé Knowles
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriter: Len Blum, Steve Martin, Michael Saltzman
Music Score: Christophe Beck
WorkNameSort: Pink Panther, The
Our Rating: 1.50

Steve Martin’s dreaded riff on Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau comes off like a Saturday Night Live skit from the late 1970s, when audiences showed up nicely toasted and a guest host could coast on the same wild and crazy schtick week after week. Playing at being a bumbling French detective – but not for a second convincing us that he is one – Martin mugs his way through a rote slapstick caper about a murdered soccer coach and that titular missing gem. The gags that bear Martin’s stamp as a writer stick out like conceptual-comedy stink bombs, although the unimaginatively choreographed (and probably outmoded, anyway) physical tomfoolery isn’t much better. The one interesting feature is Clive Owen’s brief appearance as a Bondian superspy, a vignette that hints at what kind of movies we might instead be enjoying had anyone seen fit to hand that guy the one role he was born to play. (PG)

This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2006.