Movie Review: The Pink Panther with Steve Martin

For those of you who don't know, The Pink Panther is not just a cartoon character selling insulation or in the Sunday comics. The Pink Panther is not a bumbling French detective either. What is it? It is a large diamond that has been stolen and needs to be recovered. In the original stories, it was a jewel with a flaw that when observed correctly looked like a panther. In our updated remake, it is a large pink stone owned by a famous soccer coach.

So where did the bumbling French detective come in? Well, his name is Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin). He's a flop of a police officer who proudly thinks he is diligently holing up the law and serving the best interests of France. Motivated by national pride and a thirst to solve the crime, he acts in the name of the law with spectacular blunders as results.

Clouseau has been called in by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) to be promoted to full Inspector and to solve a high profile murder and as well determine the whereabouts of the infamous Pink Panther… or so he is told. In fact Chief Dreyfus is using him as a distraction to take attention away from the real investigation that he is heading up. This is all in the hope that the apprehension of the criminal will lead to the Chief winning a prestigious civic award.

The only brief slow points of this movie are when Clouseau is actually finding a clue. The facts he uncovers are not shared with the audience, but you are witness to the "Ah huh!" moment. So how does Jacques Clouseau solve a crime? He uses deductive reasoning of course. Reasoning so finely attuned that he usually winds up coming to the wrong conclusion.

Several times during the movie, Clouseau is faced with people having a hard time understanding him through his ludicrous French accent. In fact, his accent is so forced and phony that when he goes to a linguistics coach to "learn to speak with a flawless American accent", you want to reach through the screen and slap him silly and teach how to pronounce "ham-bur-ger" though you know this is all a part of his charm.

Try to watch this movie with a straight face. I dare you. This movie has more than it's fair share of jokes, slapstick and situation comedy that will have you rolling with laughter. You get everything from accidental cause and effect (and effect; and effect) to flat out embarrassing mistakes with over-the-top comedic results. Steve Martin even goes so far as acting as his own straight man to make you chuckle and guffaw.

I know that Steve has his roots in comedy going back to Saturday Night Live and is an outstanding comedic genius. I just didn't think he could convincingly pull off this classic role. Boy was I wrong. The best compliment I can think to give, "I don't think Peter Sellers (the original Inspector Jacques Clouseau) could have done a better job."

This movie doesn't have any effects that warrant the big screen, but this movie is best enjoyed in mass. You need a large audience to allow yourself to get swept up in the laughter generated by the random happenings and zany situations.

Snap your fingers along with the music in the opening credits and enjoy the show… I'm off for "uh dam-bug-guur". Oh, by the way, I want a sequel.