VIDEO: The trailer for The Pink Panther 2
Part "deux" of the resurrected Blake Edwards's franchise returns Steve Martin as the hapless Inspector Clouseau. Martin has grown into the role as far as physical comedy goes, and it doesn't hurt to have a robust ensemble to mask the razor-thin plot. Director Harald Zwart keeps the ninny nonsense moving quick enough to stave off the staleness.
Most of the action takes place in Paris (though the film was shot in Boston), where Clouseau and a "dream team" of detectives (Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, and Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai Bachchan among them) try to nab the Tornado, a faceless thief who's lifted the Shroud of Turin, the Magna Carta, and the eponymous gem of the title.
Lily Tomlin steals many a scene as a sensitivity Nazi, and Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno, and John Cleese all throw in as Clouseau's cohort. I like Martin, but this part deux has an all too familiar stink about it.
