THE PINK PANTHER 2
US, 2009, 92 minutes, Colour.
Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Yuki Matsuzaki, Aishwarya Rai, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Jeremy Irons, Johnny Halliday, Geoffrey Palmer.
Directed by Harald Zwart.
Peter Sellers is Inspector Clouseau forever. Alan Arkin had a fling at the role in the 1960s. This is Steve Martin's second outing. The first did not particularly appeal.
Steve Martin has been re-making classics, re-doing Spencer Tracy as Father of the Bride and re-doing Clifton Webb in updated Cheaper by the Dozen movies. What he does as Inspector Clouseau is not create a character (which Peter Sellers did in The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark) but make his presence felt in bumbling pomposity, slapstick and continued mugging (not that Peter Sellers did not mug in the later Pink Panther films),
So, for older fans, Steve Martin could be a liability. For those not so familiar with Peter Sellers, Stave Martin has become Inspector Clouseau.
That said, Pink Panther 2 is a far funnier experience than might have been expected. The sight gags should raise some laughs and there are some witty lines. The cast helps a great deal. John Cleese does his thing as Inspector Dreyfuss and gets more screen time than he has had in more recent times. There are returners from the firs film. Jean Reno plays straight man to Clouseau and Emily Mortimer is the bespectacled librarian in love with Clouseau. The detective dream team is good with Andy Garcia as a suave Italian, Alfred Molina very British and Yuki Matsuzaki very Japanese. Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai arrives as an expert on crime. Clouseau is anything but politically correct concerning women, flirting and harassment and racial respect. So Lily Tomlin has some amusing scenes where she tries to educate Clouseau.
And who should turn up as a suave villain but Jeremy Irons, along with singer Johnny Hallyday?
The animated credits and Henry Mancini's familiar theme are, as always, welcome.
1.The popularity of the Pink Panther, over forty-five years? The popularity of Inspector Clouseau? Blake Edwards’ films? The cartoons? The classic Henry Mancini score?
2.The impact of Peter Sellers in the role, creating a character, absurd and pompous, pronunciations? The contrast with Steve Martin, mugging rather than creating a character? Caricature? Comparisons between the two actors?
3.The tradition of the comedies, the detectives, Inspector Dreyfus, mishaps, mispronunciations, Clouseau and his effecting the solution to the mystery?
4.The screenplay: characters, humour, wit, slapstick?
5.Steve Martin as Clouseau, his job with the parking, the medal that he received (and later stopping the bullet)? His pomposity, the interactions with Dreyfus, the recording equipment in the room and his smashing it, the dream team and his attitude? His regard for Nicole? The attraction towards Sonia? The flashbacks to Rome, the meal, his choosing the wine, the crash of the case, the burning of the hotel – and destroying it a second time? His unwittingly destroying evidence, putting his own fingerprints over evidence? His scaling Avellaneda’s house, the mishaps, running on the globe? On television, his interviews? The final solution of the case, his being shot? His wariness of Nicole and Vincenzo? The final and the marriage?
6.John Cleese as Dreyfus, his pompous style, his antipathy towards Clouseau, thinking he was in charge of the case, protecting himself with Clouseau and the parking, the destruction of the recording material? His guarding the Pink Panther? The dream team? The alleged solution, the dinner, the failure and the stealing of the Pink Panther?
7.Nicole as the librarian, spectacles, going to Rome, the burning of the hotel, Vincenzo and his attentions, upsetting Nicole with his comments about Clouseau’s attitude? Vincenzo fixing everything at the end, the marriage?
8.The dream team assembling: Vincenzo, his Italian name, romantic attitude, the pilot of the plane? Pepperidge and his very British style, the interchanges with Clouseau, the tutu at the end? Kenji, the Japanese, the experts? Their deductions? Hearing them in action?
9.Sonia, her late arrival, the book, the expert on the criminal, assisting in the case, charm, Clouseau and the attraction, the revelation and the information from the parking tickets, the stealing of the Pink Panther, of the other treasures? Her shooting the gem – and its being the fake? Clouseau and Ponton switching the gems? The flashback showing this?
10.The range of robberies, the opening of the film, the Shroud of Turin and other treasures – and Clouseau’s cavalier attitude, for example shaking the dust out of the shroud?
11.The humour of the papal scene, the pope and his ring, the stealing, Clouseau in the interview, wearing the papal robes, the gestures, going out on the balcony, the crowds thinking it was the pope, his falling over the balcony? The pope coming to Clouseau’s wedding?
12.Avellaneda, Jeremy Irons’ style, his exasperation, the visit to his home? At the restaurant? Johnny Halliday as the alleged criminal, his death?
13.Ponton, the straight man, his help, his exasperated wife, the kids and their coming to stay with Clouseau, the martial arts and all the slapstick comedy? Their participation in the finale?
14.The substitution of the Pink Panther, the shower as the fake was shattered? Dreyfus and his relief?
15.The credits, the animation of the Pink Panther – and Mancini’s score?
