If you’re in the mood for an absolutely ridiculous movie, I suggest you go see The Pink Panther, starring Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau. A prequel to the 1964 Peter Sellers version, Panther sets up the story behind the infamous Pink Panther diamond through solving the murder of France’s well-known, yet not well-liked, soccer coach Yves Gluant. Played by Jason Statham, Gluant is in possession of the diamond at the beginning of the film before he is murdered at a game and the ring is missing from his hand. The movie follows the investigation not only to catch a killer, but also the thief of an international icon.
After the murder, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) cooks up a dimwitted plan to win the Medal of Honor. He believes by sending out a complete idiot to “solve” the case, the media will focus on his appointee, giving Dreyfus the chance to solve it himself and thus win the medal. He obviously selects Inspector Clouseau for the job, as it becomes clear just how uncoordinated and unfortunate Clouseau really is. Unaware of the true reasons behind this promotion, the ill-fated inspector sets out with his sidekick Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, portrayed by Jean Reno. Ponton was assigned by Dreyfus to keep an eye on Clouseau at all hours of the day and report any new findings in the case.
The two initial suspects are French soccer star Bizu (William Abadie) and pop superstar Xania—rightly played by Beyonce Knowles—who happens to be Gluant’s girlfriend and a former companion of Bizu. Given this information, Clouseau assumes Bizu is guilty of murder out of jealous rage but runs out of options when Bizu is also found murdered. This turns the heat onto Xania, whose skimpy outfits and freshly glossed lips distract Clouseau into thoughts of seduction rather than murder investigation. He spends more time smelling her perfume than interrogating her about her whereabouts.
As the case unfolds, Clouseau’s silly antics get him further into trouble with Chief Dreyfus. He narrows the suspect list down to essentially every Chinese person in France and anybody Gluant came into contact with. He even travels to New York City to follow Xania and gets invited back to her room in the renowed Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which ends up being one of the most hilarious scenes. The bathroom curtains are lit on fire by his flaming cocktail, but fortunately, the room was already flooded from the broken sink pipe. This was not a smooth beginning to his chance of getting lucky.
Some other laugh-out-loud scenes include Clouseau’s English tutoring to get rid of his awkward French accent. It takes him about 30 tries to say, “I would like to buy a hamburger,” which he slaughtered time after time and faced a bit of trouble with the law for it. Another humorous, yet slightly disturbing, scene involves a decorative spandex suit, Clouseau and Ponton, and their debut as backup dancers.
There were also laughs associated with listening to the characters trying to speak with a French accent. Martin’s valiant effort lends well to his character’s nature, but Kline could use a few more lessons. His role as the Chief Inspector is supposed to be a stereotypical haughty police official, but he slides back and forth between French, British, and American accents. Kline, however, does fit the role well and brings in aspects of his character in Wild Wild West with Will Smith. Through his acting skills, he is somewhat able to regain some of what is lost with a poor accent.
The main criticism of this film, though, is its inability to live up to the Peter Sellers’ original. Though Martin’s interpretation of the Clouseau character varies from Sellers’, he is still able to portray the clueless and nitwitted nature of the inspector. There were some cases, though, when the comedy did not fit into the plot, leaving the audience laughing but unsure of how that scene fit in with the rest. This could be in part from this movie having to set up the story behind the diamond, while the others were almost carefree about the plot. In the Sellers version, for example, the movie is more focused on the character of Clouseau than the pink panther diamond. This allows for more seamless transitions between the jokes.
Overall, Martin was able to capture the silly nature of Clouseau and portray a character who appeals to the audience of all ages. There were never any moments when the humor was inappropriate for its PG rating, and the adults did not feel out of place—the movie truly is a family film. Knowles as Xania was a perfect character match since she is a pop singer and sexy seductress in the movie as well as in real life. This movie is entertaining from the beginning, and the mishaps and innuendos rarely slow down leaving everyone feeling bad for Clouseau, the unlikely hero of the story.
