The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
Best2012Vote-1000x50

The Pink Panther

Steve Martin's bungling gendarme scours Paris for a killer and the mother of all diamonds
By TOM MEEK  |  February 15, 2006
2.0 2.0 Stars
NO SELLERS But, then again, who is?The comic-sleuth series has struggled since the 1980 death of Peter Sellers, who incarnated the iconic French nincompoop Inspector Clouseau. Creator Blake Edwards tried several post-Sellers follow-ups, even casting the gonzo Italian comedian Roberto Benigni in his 1993 The Son of the Pink Panther. None of them worked. Now we get Steve Martin, accompanied by Kevin Kline in the Herbert Lom role of Commissioner Dreyfus, Clouseau’s overbearing superior. They’re no Sellers and Lom, but they give it a go. Martin lacks his predecessor’s droll ease, and it doesn’t help that director Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen) makes the film wheeze in stilted vignettes. The prequel of sorts does eventually jell as the bungling gendarme scours Paris for a killer and the title mother of all diamonds. The colorful ensemble includes Beyoncé Knowles as the chanteuse/moll, the weary-eyed Jean Reno in the de facto Cato role, Emily Mortimer, and a suave (uncredited) Clive Owen as agent 006.
Related: Politics as usual?, Death at a Funeral, The Big Hurt: Cohen back on stage, Dee back in Heaven, Kelly back on the market, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Emily Mortimer, Clive Owen, Jacques Clouseau,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/13 ]   "Aphrodite and the Gods of Love"  @ Museum of Fine Arts
[ 02/13 ]   "Processes and Dreams"  @ Panopticon Gallery
[ 02/13 ]   "Artists' Books: Books by Artists"  @ Boston Athenæum
More Information
ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING  |  January 24, 2012
    The Underworld series got long in the tooth early, but here, in the fourth installment (directed by Swede Måns Mårlind), it grows new fangs.
  •   REVIEW: JOYFUL NOISE  |  January 10, 2012
    There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
  •   REVIEW: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY  |  January 05, 2012
    Jolie has loosely reworked the story of Romeo and Juliet in an infamous setting familiar from CNN but here seen from the inside.
  •   REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED  |  December 13, 2011
    For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.
  •   REVIEW: TRESPASS  |  October 13, 2011
    If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.

 See all articles by: TOM MEEK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed