Post by Phantom Pictures on Jan 27, 2009 18:16:43 GMT
Steve Martin continues to be a revered comedy icon even 10 years after his last relevant comedy (that would be Bowfinger), but even he knew he needed some help to get anyone to accept a second remake of the classic Peter Sellers Pink Panther films. So for The Pink Panther 2, Martin stacks the deck with talented comedians and actors from across the globe. Emily Mortimer and Jean Reno are back, John Cleese has replaced Kevin Kline as Clouseau's nemesis Inspector Dreyfus, and Alfred Molina and Andy Garcia have joined as international investigators brought to France when, once again, the Pink Panther diamond is lifted. Add in Aishwarya Rai as a mysterious diamond expert, Lily Tomlin as an etiquette teacher and Jeremy Irons as a suspected culprit, and it's a cast that would make anything worth watching.
Anything except The Pink Panther 2, that is. The movie that brings together all these stars is a dull and obvious comedy that either squanders the talent of its cast or leaves them to founder within the scrambled and episodic screenplay. Decent pratfalls and physical gags will take you a long way, but there needs to be some semblance of wit and coherence to keep viewers older than 10 interested. Harald Zwart steps in for director Shawn Levy here, but his poor sense of comedic timing and lack of visual style may have only made matters worse.
When the film opens Inspector Clouseau (Martin) has been relegated to parking meter duty after winning a Medal of Honor at the end of the last film, with Dreyfus hoping to keep him out of the office and out of the way. But when the Pink Panther is stolen, along with priceless artifacts from Italy, Japan and England, Clouseau is the obvious choice to join the international Dream Team charged with recovering the items. There's a Brit (Molina), an Italian (Garcia) and a Japanese whiz kid (Yuki Matsuzaki), all of them exasperated by Clouseau's ego and clumsiness. The Italian is more interested Clouseau's secretary Nicole (Mortimer), whom he woos even while Nicole and Clouseau refuse to acknowledge their mutual crushes.
Joined by jewel expert Sonia (Rai), the Dream Team travels the globe on the trail of the mysterious thief The Tornado. Each location is essentially just a new opportunity for a Clouseau pratfall. He runs atop a giant globe in a mansion, he falls off the Pope's balcony, he burns down a restaurant in Rome. The physical gags, as tired as they may be, work a whole lot better than the French jokes, which once again find Clouseau unable to pronounce "hamburger" and, in his scenes with Tomlin, constantly ogling women. The goal seems to be to establish some kind of witty repartee among the assorted comic legends, but all the verbal scenes are draggy and obvious, making Tomlin's presence, for the first time ever, unwanted.
Mortimer brings some sparkle as the dopey and devoted Nicole, and Molina especially makes a fun opponent for Clouseau, as in one early scene where the two size each other up by lobbing random insults like "You were 14 before you learned to enjoy the taste of avocado!" Reno, though his character lurks weirdly on the sidelines for most of the film, gets a beautifully bizarre song-and-dance scene with Martin. You get the sense that, in a better movie with more ambition, the audience could be having as much fun as the stars did behind the scenes.
Once I was watching The Office on DVD, and spent 10 minutes watching deleted scenes before I realized it wasn't the actual episode. The Pink Panther 2 is pretty much the same experience, making you wonder if there's a cut of the film that doesn't linger so needlessly on Clouseau's love triangle, or leaves out the scenes (Clouseau karate fights with tweens?) that have nothing to do with the plot. But apparently Martin and Zwart really did want to make a movie this aimless and derivative, aware that their target audience of children won't know what they're missing. Would that the rest of us could be so lucky.
Anything except The Pink Panther 2, that is. The movie that brings together all these stars is a dull and obvious comedy that either squanders the talent of its cast or leaves them to founder within the scrambled and episodic screenplay. Decent pratfalls and physical gags will take you a long way, but there needs to be some semblance of wit and coherence to keep viewers older than 10 interested. Harald Zwart steps in for director Shawn Levy here, but his poor sense of comedic timing and lack of visual style may have only made matters worse.
When the film opens Inspector Clouseau (Martin) has been relegated to parking meter duty after winning a Medal of Honor at the end of the last film, with Dreyfus hoping to keep him out of the office and out of the way. But when the Pink Panther is stolen, along with priceless artifacts from Italy, Japan and England, Clouseau is the obvious choice to join the international Dream Team charged with recovering the items. There's a Brit (Molina), an Italian (Garcia) and a Japanese whiz kid (Yuki Matsuzaki), all of them exasperated by Clouseau's ego and clumsiness. The Italian is more interested Clouseau's secretary Nicole (Mortimer), whom he woos even while Nicole and Clouseau refuse to acknowledge their mutual crushes.
Joined by jewel expert Sonia (Rai), the Dream Team travels the globe on the trail of the mysterious thief The Tornado. Each location is essentially just a new opportunity for a Clouseau pratfall. He runs atop a giant globe in a mansion, he falls off the Pope's balcony, he burns down a restaurant in Rome. The physical gags, as tired as they may be, work a whole lot better than the French jokes, which once again find Clouseau unable to pronounce "hamburger" and, in his scenes with Tomlin, constantly ogling women. The goal seems to be to establish some kind of witty repartee among the assorted comic legends, but all the verbal scenes are draggy and obvious, making Tomlin's presence, for the first time ever, unwanted.
Mortimer brings some sparkle as the dopey and devoted Nicole, and Molina especially makes a fun opponent for Clouseau, as in one early scene where the two size each other up by lobbing random insults like "You were 14 before you learned to enjoy the taste of avocado!" Reno, though his character lurks weirdly on the sidelines for most of the film, gets a beautifully bizarre song-and-dance scene with Martin. You get the sense that, in a better movie with more ambition, the audience could be having as much fun as the stars did behind the scenes.
Once I was watching The Office on DVD, and spent 10 minutes watching deleted scenes before I realized it wasn't the actual episode. The Pink Panther 2 is pretty much the same experience, making you wonder if there's a cut of the film that doesn't linger so needlessly on Clouseau's love triangle, or leaves out the scenes (Clouseau karate fights with tweens?) that have nothing to do with the plot. But apparently Martin and Zwart really did want to make a movie this aimless and derivative, aware that their target audience of children won't know what they're missing. Would that the rest of us could be so lucky.
www.cinemablend.com
The Pink Panther 2 is the sequel to the 2006 revision of the classic starring Steve Martin. The white hair says Leslie Nielsen, while the mustache is all Peter Sellers. Unfortunately, Martin gets lost in the grey in-between. His impersonation isn’t bad, the whole show just becomes a cringe-fest when he keeps trying so hard without even cracking a smile from the audience. The first Martin Pink Panther was a comic disaster, and ruined the reputation set forth by the cartoon and Peter Sellers. The sequel pushes the franchise’s nose further into the dirt, as a host of recognizable Hollywood padding goes down in flames. Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai, John Cleese and Jeremy Irons are escorted into the sequel like they were doing a send up of Ocean’s Eleven. The spectator ensemble crack the odd joke, but are there to make the Inspector seem a little more foolish with their doubting glances. If they had been more obvious, they would’ve introduced a laugh track or audience cues for all of Martin’s idiocy.
The “comic” set pieces are more Charlie Chaplin than a tribute to Peter Sellers, whose balanced approach to straight-laced mystery and comedy was where The Pink Panther shone. The story is composed of regular stupid gags, which run out of gas before they even add the “funny”. The narrative makes some convenient twists-and-turns before pulling the rabbit out of the proverbial hat. Unfortunately, Steve Martin doesn’t hit the sweet spot, and how can you blame him when he’s been miscast in the role of Inspector Clouseau. One can appreciate that his white hair is his trademark, but it always feels like Steve Martin with a mustache, instead of the bumbling detective. Even the ripe old Leslie Nielsen would’ve fared better as a Clouseau. The only reason this reviewer thought it necessary to watch the sequel was to be sure that they’d learnt from their mistakes. Despite watching The Pink Panther 2 after Mike Myers’ weakest film in The Love Guru, there were no chuckles (not even tremors)!
The conclusion was slapdash, and the whole mystery was solved in an utterance or two. The biggest mystery of all was that Harold Zwart was brought on-board to direct. The Dutch director’s Hollywood credits extend to One Night at McCool’s and Agent Cody Banks, which were both mediocre at best. Moreover, debut screenwriters, Neustadter and Weber, are given the reins on the script. The Pink Panther 2 was a disaster waiting to happen, and it’s like Martin signed on for a three picture deal or something. The Pink Panther posse were called in, and their dramatic weight didn’t really help matters much. Martin would’ve been better suited to a Naked Gun remake. It’s not just the white hair, it’s the embarrassing, over-the-top caricature of Clouseau that blows. His blunders give you the same feeling that his support team are conveying and his irreverence to Sellers even extends a hand-buzzer to the Pope. It’s contrived, predictable, miscast and it’s flat from the get-go.
No doubt, there will be a faction of die-hard Steve Martin fans that will still go and see The Pink Panther 2. Please be warned that Jean Reno is the funniest man on set, and he’s meant to be the straight man?! Even John Cleese’s involvement begs the question… how much are they paying these people? The script is ridiculous and stupid at best, it’s a miracle that this outrageously unfunny movie has seen the light of day. Sorry Steve, you’ve been funnier than this, but it’s been a slippery slope ever since that rendition of Dr. Evil in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The movie is well-paced, so the quick scene transitions will give you the illusion that you’re actually being entertained. However, the only entertaining thing about The Pink Panther 2 is the beautiful Aishwarya. Hopefully this box office flop will deliver the right shades of pink this film deserves. Robin Williams, Kevin Spacey, Mike Myers and Chris Tucker will be the only ones laughing… after wiping the sweat from their brows. Close call.
The “comic” set pieces are more Charlie Chaplin than a tribute to Peter Sellers, whose balanced approach to straight-laced mystery and comedy was where The Pink Panther shone. The story is composed of regular stupid gags, which run out of gas before they even add the “funny”. The narrative makes some convenient twists-and-turns before pulling the rabbit out of the proverbial hat. Unfortunately, Steve Martin doesn’t hit the sweet spot, and how can you blame him when he’s been miscast in the role of Inspector Clouseau. One can appreciate that his white hair is his trademark, but it always feels like Steve Martin with a mustache, instead of the bumbling detective. Even the ripe old Leslie Nielsen would’ve fared better as a Clouseau. The only reason this reviewer thought it necessary to watch the sequel was to be sure that they’d learnt from their mistakes. Despite watching The Pink Panther 2 after Mike Myers’ weakest film in The Love Guru, there were no chuckles (not even tremors)!
The conclusion was slapdash, and the whole mystery was solved in an utterance or two. The biggest mystery of all was that Harold Zwart was brought on-board to direct. The Dutch director’s Hollywood credits extend to One Night at McCool’s and Agent Cody Banks, which were both mediocre at best. Moreover, debut screenwriters, Neustadter and Weber, are given the reins on the script. The Pink Panther 2 was a disaster waiting to happen, and it’s like Martin signed on for a three picture deal or something. The Pink Panther posse were called in, and their dramatic weight didn’t really help matters much. Martin would’ve been better suited to a Naked Gun remake. It’s not just the white hair, it’s the embarrassing, over-the-top caricature of Clouseau that blows. His blunders give you the same feeling that his support team are conveying and his irreverence to Sellers even extends a hand-buzzer to the Pope. It’s contrived, predictable, miscast and it’s flat from the get-go.
No doubt, there will be a faction of die-hard Steve Martin fans that will still go and see The Pink Panther 2. Please be warned that Jean Reno is the funniest man on set, and he’s meant to be the straight man?! Even John Cleese’s involvement begs the question… how much are they paying these people? The script is ridiculous and stupid at best, it’s a miracle that this outrageously unfunny movie has seen the light of day. Sorry Steve, you’ve been funnier than this, but it’s been a slippery slope ever since that rendition of Dr. Evil in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The movie is well-paced, so the quick scene transitions will give you the illusion that you’re actually being entertained. However, the only entertaining thing about The Pink Panther 2 is the beautiful Aishwarya. Hopefully this box office flop will deliver the right shades of pink this film deserves. Robin Williams, Kevin Spacey, Mike Myers and Chris Tucker will be the only ones laughing… after wiping the sweat from their brows. Close call.
www.spling.co.za