A comic gem! So says the movie’s tag line in Clouseauesque pompous style. By itself that should sound quite funny, but it makes you grin even more when you realize that it is also meant to be a pun on the storyline of this episode, a comedy about a gem – a whodunit about the purloining of the famous French diamond, the Pink Panther.
But seriously, Steve Martin’s second shot at reprising the character of the bumbling detective, Inspector Clouseau, is quite worthy of its cause. While it is questionable as a standalone comedy with its own appeal, it definitely is an honorable gesture to celebrate the work of late Peter Sellers, whose adorable antics in Blake Edwards’ original franchise made Clouseau a cult figure for fans of slapstick comedy.
The story begins with reports of the famous international burglar Tornado making a comeback with the stealing of such legendary, and highly guarded, cultural treasures of the world as the Magna Carta (the 1215 AD document that is credited as being the origin for today’s common law), the Shroud of Turin (that is believed by religious pilgrims to be the cloth placed on Jesus Christ at the time of his burial), and the imperial sword of Japan (which , as one of the three most sacred national symbol
Has been used since 690 AD during the enthronement of emperors). Relegated to being a mere parking ticket officer by his nemesis Chief Inspector Dreyfus (this time played by John Cleese), Clouseau gets called in to be part of an international dream team of detectives/experts to nab Tornado. Set out to be on his way to Japan to join the team.
Clouseau is forced to make a U-turn from Paris airport when Tornado strikes again, this time to steal the Pink Panther. Sonia Solandres, a criminology expert (Aishwara Rai Bachchan) joins the team which in addition to Clouseau has Inspector Pepperidge from UK (Alfred Molina), Inspector Vincenzo from Italy (Andy Garcia), and technology expert Kenji from Japan (Yuki Matsuzaki).
The unique styles of sleuthing of the three detectives and their games of oneupmanship do end up being reasonably amusing. Clouseau’s new sidekick character Ponton, who replaces Cato in the revival series, (played again by Jean Remo) comes with his own set of gags, and assistant Nicole (Emily Mortimer) advances her case further as Clouseau’s love interest. In spite of themselves the members of this crazy gang, predictably, stumble on the right clues to solve the mystery, thanks only to the dumb luck of Clouseau. Along the way we have a list of fiascos that he is so famous for, the highlights of which include: burning down a posh restaurant in Rome two times over; chasing a wrong suspect, Alonso (Jeremy Irons).
And ruining his country-side villa; an impious interrogation of the Pope, and falling down from the balcony of His Holiness’s office; triggering the security squad (called ‘Blackberries’) at Dreyfus’s office and bringing the place down with a shooting spree. Well, agreed that as a list it is nearly not as long and loud as to throw one into splits of laughter, but brevity is really the soul of wit for this movie whose script (co-written by Steve Martin himself), after multiple revisions, seems to have gone more in favor of keeping matters rather safe and simple. It doesn’t do anything outlandish or over-the-top to hurt its sense of purpose – of being complimentary of its source of inspiration. A welcome improvisation comes in the form of the Mrs. Berenger (played effectively by Lily Tomlin), a ‘manners teacher’ who keeps working on Clouseau’s political correctness.
As for performances, Steve Martin repeats his rather effected but sincere tribute to Peter Sellers from the first episode. The same applies to John Cleese’s portrayal of Herbert Lom’s Dreyfus, who steps in for Kevin Kline this time. One only wishes the script had room to incorporate additional run-ins between the two, though. The role Aishwarya Rai plays doesn’t do much to help her stake a claim on the international scene, but she does play it with ease and grace. Alfred Molina, Andy Garcia, Emily Moritimer, and Jean Reno do their bit to join the farce.
Young director, Harald Zwart, of Norway makes his mark for delivering a product that is brisk, clean and crisp. Editor Julia Wong and cinematographer Denis Crossan provide the needed support.Although heavily derided by critics and the masses alike for being guilty of unexciting and perhaps not being as crude as most current comedies are, this one is for you if you are looking for a genial fare and for some harmless chuckles.