The Pink Panther

Saw this on Sunday in a toss up between this, The Inside Man which doesn't really appeal or V for Vendetta, which I want to see with a few mates.

It's not good.

It's not bad, either.

Hmm, where to start... It's got a few good comedy moments in it, but overall not as funny as I expected. For a script co-written by Steve Martin, I expected more. You can see where it is trying to draw from the source material, such as Clouseau's "securing the area" sketches, but they just feel laboured. There are some upbeat moments. The continual abuse of various cyclists are they are accidentally injured by Clouseau, the president's palace part and the hotel bathroom to name a few, but most of the visual gags are sign posted well in advance, which means when they arrive, the humour is lost.

It's not even got the advantage of trying to guess who the villain is, since the deduction Clouseau comes to is based on two clues that are not mentioned until the final "unveiling". Martin's accent, although giving a couple of the better laughs in the film, began to grate towards the end, and not even the combined efforts of Steve Martin and Jean Reno can lift the more mundane parts of it. Having said that, Reno and Martin do have several good scenes together and the final humiliation of the chief inspector is funny.

Beyonce Knowles is in it, which always scores bonus points with me, but she displays even less acting ability than she did in Goldmember, and in this film is doing an 'Aniston', ie being paid to look pretty and not say much.

Yahoo Critics are giving it a C
Yahoo users are giving it a B-.

Personally, I think they're being generous. If I was pressured into making a comparison, I'd say it's a bit like the second Austin Powers movie, except without the tongue-in-cheek, self parodying nature. In fact, that's pretty apt. Think of Austin Powers, without Mike Myers' insane sense of humour and you're on the right track.

Saxon Film Score: C

I should point out, I'm not a huge fan of Peter Seller's versions, so that gives you an idea of how bad this is in places.

OQ:

Pretemps: He was shot in the head.
Clouseau : Was it fatal?
Pretemps: Yes.
Clouseau : How fatal?
Pretemps: Completely.