Not in the same class

The story chugs along and even if one tries to shut off the elan of the original purveyor of the role, there is not much to hold one’s attention.

Comparisons, they say, are odious, but who can speak about Inspector Clouseau, alias the Pink Panther, without alluding to Peter Sellers. The two were synonymous, even more so than Sean Connery and James Bond. Then I’m no great fan of Steve Martin, who has taken over the role. It isn’t surprising therefore that the new Pink Panther is never in the same class in my book.

The "You" gag is clever, no doubt, and there are a sprinkling of others not quite in the same mould. Steve Martin, we know, is capable of bumbling his way about, but for me he is as bad as an out-of-control Jim Carrey. Kevin Kline as his senior is at best okay and Beyonce Knowles has the oomph to lead the Inspector on, but not the audience, at least not even to the halfway mark. Veteran French actor Jean Reno is neither here nor there and is probably cast only because of his international popularity.

A French soccer coach has been murdered (shades of Basic Instinct 2) and this country bumpkin has to go the U.S. of A to investigate the murder. It is the take-off point but what follows is far from clever. Going from pillar to post the story chugs along and even if one tries to shut off the elan of the original purveyor of the role, there is not much to hold one’s attention.

Things are anything but in the pink, and that’s putting things very mildly.

So among Steve Martin (whose best role to date is in The Father of the Bride), Kevin Kline and Jean Reno—to say little of the sexiness of Beyonce Knowles—the film limps along to be periodically propped up by gags like the "You" one but that isn’t saying much. Why Hollywood tries to resurrect these dead horses decades later is hard to imagine. May be they want the generation next to sample their yesteryear ware. But then when they themselves made Sellers irreplaceable, how can they undo what they did? — E.E.M.

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