Movie Review: The Pink Panther (2006)

I remember the classic Pink Panther movies, but I don't remember them well enough to be jaded about this rendition. I watched the 2006 version of The Pink Panther with great hopes for a belly-laugh or two. And how could it miss? My all-time favorite Steve Martin (in college I once won a mixer game for my spontaneous speech on the merits of Mr. Martin) had the starring role, one of the most unsung actors of our generation--Kevin Kline--appears as the comic foil, Jacques Clouseau is one of the classic comic characters of cinema, and for a touch of the contemporary, they even threw in Beyonce. Trouble was, Steve Martin himself is as classic a character as Jacques Clouseau, this made me feel as if I was watching Martin "doing" Jacques Clouseau. Instead of feeling nervous about this flumsy inspector, his accent, and his lack of social graces--I felt nervous for Steve Martin as he tried to find his stride as this character we know so well. Ultimately, I think Martin is best playing Martin or some "named" character that the movie-going public has no foreknowledge of. The exception would be in Martin's dramatic roles, where he is much more capable of escaping his own persona (Shopgirl, for example). Ultimately, The Pink Panther fails because Martin can't escape Martin and because the slapstick humor of the '60s doesn't play well in the 21st century. A Pink Panther movie is not complete without the slapstick, but the way each sight gag was telegraphed stole any element of suspense or surprise from the payoff. Also, it would have been advisable for the filmmakers to incorporate the bantering humor that is playing popularly on today's screens (see Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell) alongside the age-old slapstick. As to the rest of the cast, Kevin Kline did everything you could have asked of him, Emily Mortimer was a treat as Clouseau's assistant Nicole, Jean Reno was perfect as Ponton, and Beyonce was flat (her acting anyway) and wooden. As the fathers of humor once taught, humor consists of one of two things: surprise and incongruity--The Pink Panther was sorely in need of these twin towers of hilarity. Grade: C