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The Pink Panther Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG (for occasional crude and suggestive humor and language) Genre: Comedy Theater release: February 10, 2006 by Columbia Pictures and MGM Pictures Directed by: Shawn Levy Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes Cast: Steve Martin (Inspector Jacques Clouseau), Kevin Kline (Chief Inspector Dreyfus), Jean Reno (Gendarme Gilbert Ponton), Emily Mortimer (Nicole), Henry Czerny (Yuri), Beyoncé; Knowles (Xania) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Compile a quick list of the greatest comedic characters in film history and accident-prone Inspector Jacques Clouseau would have to be included. Though the role was originally offered to Peter Ustinov, it was the late great Peter Sellers who accepted the part and made it his own in the original Pink Panther back in 1963. Inspired by the classic physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, director Blake Edwards went on to make four sequels before Sellers' death in 1980 … and then three more after that with far less satisfying results. Does this mean it was Sellers, not the concept, that made the series a hit?

Steve Martin attempts to reprise the role made famous by Peter Sellers

Thirteen years since Edwards' last theatrical release (the abysmal Son of the Pink Panther, starring Roberto Benigni) and forty-three since the original, The Pink Panther is given a fresh perspective with director Shawn Levy (2003's remake of Cheaper by the Dozen), screenwriter Len Blum (Stripes), and co-writer/star Steve Martin. Most would say that we need another cinematic remake as much as another sequel to Deuce Bigelow, but The Pink Panther series is a proven franchise that could get more mileage out of a modern overhaul. Unfortunately, as might be surmised from the delays in its release (it was originally slated for last summer), this version might well suggest that the original films' success was due primarily to Sellers.

Intended to be reverent to the source material, this new Pink Panther is essentially a modernized prequel to the original. Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline, taking the reins from Herbert Lom) is given his most prestigious case to date when Team France's soccer coach is mysteriously murdered in front of thousands of fans after a win over Team China—his gaudy ring, crafted from the titular diamond, also goes missing amidst the chaos.

Determined to win the Medal of Honor by solving the crime, Dreyfus decides to distract the press and perpetrators from the real sleuthing by publicly assigning France's most clueless and incompetent officer to the case. Naturally, that man is Jacques Clouseau (Martin), whom Dreyfus partners with Ponton (French actor Jean Reno of The Professional) to watch over his lack of progress. Things develop predictably from there as Clouseau fumbles interrogations with those closest to the soccer coach, succeeding despite his ineptitude.

Jean Reno (left) and Emily Mortimer join the team as supporting characters

Casting is not the problem here. Martin is an inspired choice and one of the few capable of pulling off the slapstick comedy with intelligence. He's got the timing, the physicality, the outrageously incomprehensible French accent, and the perfect straight man to play off of with Reno. Kline also does well as the arrogant foil that suffers the most from Clouseau's clumsiness, and even Emily Mortimer (Dear Frankie) has fun playing the nerdy and equally clumsy secretary Nicole. Among a solid list of character actors and cameos, the only one who truly struggles is Beyoncé Knowles as international pop star Xania. After holding her own in the last Austin Powers movie, she's a dreadfully bland mannequin here, no better than Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson in their recent movie forays.

Not that she has much to work with when The Pink Panther lacks both strong scripting and directing. Remember when slapstick comedy was golden back in the '70s and '80s? Despite a couple scenes involving flatulence and Viagra, this movie mostly refrains from the gross-out humor so prevalent in the last decade. But it also relies on cheap, clichéd gags that are telegraphed from miles away—far beneath the abilities of Martin and Blum, but perhaps what we've come to expect from Levy, who was also responsible for the duds Big Fat Liar and Just Married.

When Clouseau borrows Dreyfus' prized fountain pen, we know he's going to find a way to make it leak on his boss. And when Clouseau favors an exotic flaming drink in a romantic scene, we know he's going to spoil the mood by accidentally setting fire to something. But as demonstrated in the original Pink Panther films, the fun in such setups is in devising a cleverly executed cause and effect. This movie provides neither.

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