PINK PANTHER 2 (2009) ** It would definitely be wrong to call it a terrible movie, and I don't think it's a bad movie. It has notable elements of cleverness and humor. The initial wave of cynicism asks you to consider it a little more than a chance for Steve Martin to score a big pay day, or have a hit, but he puts too much into it to discard it quite so easily. But it is a disappointing movie. Anyone making a Pink Panther film has to contend with the ghost of Peter Sellers, and while Steve unquestionably has the ability to do that, he never gets into that kind of level in this one. It's fun most of the time, it's quite funny at times, but it just gets dull in a way that the classics don't. It gets that way even though this particular magnitude of cleverness never stops, which says something. For example, when Steve says "France" instead of "Fraaaahnce" you know he missed something that Sellers wouldn't have. The problem isn't that Steve is obviously an American acting French--Sellers couldn't have more clearly been an Englishman mocking same. It more reminds you how great Sellers was, and echoes how great Steve's been; then add to that general template the sentimentalist whimsy of the John Cleese and Andy Garcia roles. Lily Tomlin and Jeremy Irons and Jean Reno contribute bits that are reminiscent-but fall well short of-their own best work, and to finish it all off Aishwarya Rai suggests that some day she'll also be better in something else. The main problem for me is that they're just not using powerful enough ammunition, but I think it's also important to add that if they really had to focus on a Clouseau romance-a dangerous but not inherently fatal concept-they had to emphasize it even more. Which is, clearly, the kind of chance they weren't willing to take.
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