A silly movie for the silly heart in all of us. That and Beyonce Knowles walks around looking like Beyonce Knowles. You know you want to be Steve Martin. Yes you do.
"The Pink Panther" Review
Steve Martin- Inspector Jacques Clouseau
Kevin Kline- Chief Inspector Dreyfus
Jean Reno- Gendarme Gilbert Ponton
Emily Mortimer- Nicole
Beyonce Knowles- Xania
Jason Statham- Yves Gluant
Directed by Shawn Levy
Screenplay by Len Blum and Steve Martin, based on a story by Blum and Michael Saltzman and based on characters created by Maurice Richlin and Blake Edwards
Distributed by Sony Pictures
Rated PG for occasional crude and suggestive humor and language
Runtime- 93 minutes
Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepinkpanther/
If you're Kevin Kline with a funny French accent, the head of the French national police, upset about the fact that you haven't won the National Medal of Honor (despite being nominated seven times), and the owner of the French national soccer team has been murdered in full view of a few hundred thousand people and you have no idea who did it, what do you do to solve the case? Everyone in France, heck, everyone in the world, is watching. What do you do Mister Kevin Kline with the funny French accent, what do you do? It's pretty obvious actually. You hatch a plan to win that Medal of Honor by diverting the media's attention from you and your assembled team of crack investigators so you can work on the case all the while forcing the media to follow around a total moron with a funny French accent. That's right. You bring in Steve Martin. And if it all works out, while Steve is running around in full on buffoon mode, solving nothing, you sweep in by surprise with the answer (they're also on the lookout for the famously pink "Pink Panther diamond," which was stolen from the soccer team owners finger). Seems simple enough. And that's the basic story of the new "The Pink Panther" movie with Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus, Steve Martin as the buffooning Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the always great Jean Reno as Steve's partner Gilbert Ponton, the always hot Beyonce Knowles as Beyonce Knowles (well, actually her name in the flick is Xania, but, let's face it, she's playing herself) and even Frank Martin the Transporter himself, Jason Statham, makes a non-speaking appearance as the soccer team owner. This movie is a reworking of the classic Peter Sellers flick of the same name, or it's a prequel, or… it's something along those lines. This reviewer really doesn't know. All this reviewer knows is the new "The Pink Panther" is a comedy that surprisingly works. It's actually funny.
The whole thing could have been terrible. This is one of those movies that is constantly moving, never really stopping to reflect on anything. The jokes, both physical (mostly physical) and verbal, come out of the mouth and body of Martin at lightning speed. Not everything works, not everything is a laugh out loud moment, but oddly the whole thing works as a whole. Martin's performance is simply amazing and is what carries the flick from beginning to end. His Clouseau is supremely confident in his detecting and investigating skills despite the fact that he's, in a few words, completely and totally clueless. He's a straight man playing a clown. He never finds an actual waiting attacker in a room although he has an incessant need to check every room he enters. He has a hard time asking and answering questions (nor can he learn the proper American way to say "hamburger," one of the flicks best scenes. It's good enough to be played as a radio show comedy snippet). And when it comes time to, shall we say, booyah with Beyonce, he can't keep anything together. Funny stuff all the way around.
Kevin Kline is magnificent. When he does an accent and does that stone faced look while talking it's pure valuable commodity. That pretty much sums up his performance here. The flick could have used more of him. It would have been quite acceptable to make him Clouseau's partner, but then they couldn't have used Jean Reno (a good enough reason to keep Kline in the gruff head inspector role. We need more of Kline acting like this). Jean Reno does a great bug eyed guy and can do comedy effortlessly (for whatever reason Reno reminds this reviewer of TV's Gerald McRaney. Well, the French version. If you've ever seen McRaney's work you'll notice how he can be deadpan serious and physically threatening one moment and then wide eyed and silly the next). When he puts on the body suit and has to dance the whatever you call it (you'll know it when you see it) you'll laugh hard. Beyonce, like this reviewer said earlier, plays herself. A pop singer. She's also the main squeeze of the soccer team owner, so, for a few minutes she's a suspect. She does some singing, some leg crossing, some cleavage exposing (but not too much exposing. This is PG). She just looks pretty. And while it won't win her any awards, it's a perfectly acceptable performance. Being pretty does have its advantages.
Everyone else just sort of stands around looking at Clouseau and some even get to be the unfortunate recipient of his boobery. Besides a Viagra joke there's nothing sexual or "offensive" about the flick at all. This reviewer doesn't remember any cussing (Kline's character probably should have let out a few F bombs. Being frustrated so much does tend to make people want to break them out). The movie is just silly all the way through. You've got plenty of car crashes, a rolling globe, farting in a soundproof booth, dancing, walking into things, destruction of private plumbing, slow motion hamburger eating, a black clad gang of robbers getting beaten up by a guy who was supposed to be James Bond (another funny cameo), and a dimwitted secretary (Nicole, as played by the fairly attractive Emily Mortimer) who isn't that dimwitted at the beginning but becomes more and more so as the flick goes on. This movie is jam packed with so many gags it's difficult to remember all of them. They have to be seen to be, well, mind catalogued.
And there is quite the animated opening sequence featuring the good ole Pink Panther (who this reviewer hasn't seen since those home heating insulation commercials a few years ago. It's been way too long) and the white glob Inspector character. Good stuff.
So, yeah, you should go see "The Pink Panther." Just don't expect to be blown away by the flicks biting social commentary (since it has none. Ha). It's just a big goof-a-rama, and sometimes that's all a flick needs to be.
Just an aside, a small one, but perhaps this movie would be better received if it were an homage or an "original" creation of Steve Martin and company. Why are they stomping on the legacy of Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards? That's a fair question and fair criticism. Do we really need more remakes or reimaginings? In this case, the only thing the movie can do is make us laugh and do what it sets out to do, ignoring all of that criticism. That's what "The Pink Panther" does. It keeps moving. No reflection, no mention of the past. It's not disrespect, it's moving on.
Long live Jacques Clouseau as Steve Martin, or Steve Martin as Jacques Clouseau. There are always plenty more adventures to be adventured.
Go and laugh. You will.
The 411: Steve Martin and Kevin Kline help make the new “The Pink Panther” a funny hooha movie. It’s all sight gags, physical comedy, and silly dialogue from beginning to end. It’s a murder mystery, sure, but it really doesn’t matter if the case gets solved or if the mystery is even plausible. As long as you don’t expect to be “intellectually challenged” (keep the black turtleneck home) you’ll have a good enough time. There are so many guffaws and gags that at least two of them will make you laugh. Laugh, laugh, laugh.
