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Fired Up

Pink Panther 2

Nobel Son

The first 'new' version of The Pink Panther was awful. Forty minutes in I had had enough. Pink Panther 2 is bad too, it's just not as bad and that makes the film a winner with me. I wasn't expecting to get through this movie, let alone laugh at certain points, and I did laugh.

Steve Martin's version of Inspector Clouseau is over the top goofy. He's too goofy to be taken seriously by other characters in the movie and he's too goofy to be taken seriously as a 'genius' detective by the audience. And really, that's the point of Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. He's supposed to be silly, clumsy, and dumb. But he's supposed to have this genius detective quality to him to. While Martin's version shows brief flashes of this, not enough is emphasized to get that point across and we're all just left thinking that Clouseau is a total moron. It's not to say that the character isn't funny, because he is, it's just to say that a different direction would have been more beneficial.

The supporting cast, which wasn't used hardly at all, is perfect for this movie even if the main character isn't. John Cleese, Lilly Tomlin, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, and even Jeremy Irons are all in this movie playing smaller roles and while their time on the screen is limited they take advantage of that time. The movie would have benefitted slightly if Clouseau were to have more interaction with these characters in the storyline. Instead we mostly get Martin and his comedic near-misses.

Pink Panther 2 actually wins as a comedy, as painful as that is to say. It's not bad, but it's not good either. A sequel was logical because the first one sold well, I'm not sure a third movie is in the works but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Steve Martin is a very funny man. Some of his stuff is my favorite, but he needs to run away from this franchise because the two just don't mix the way they should.