Too many of the stunt gags are performed without payoffs Buster Keaton, the master, always gave you reaction shots. Opportunities to better develop all of these characters are lost, and we're left with the sight and stunt gags, which are central to the " Panther" films, of course, but feel recycled: This time, little kids are the kung-fu experts, for example, instead of Cato. behavior, who Clouseau argues with ("But. Tomlin is the departmental expert on P.C. Yuki Matsuzaki, as the Japanese cop Kenji, seems to be projecting ideas about the character that were edited out or never written in. Reno is Ponton, Clouseau's associate inspector, whose considerable presence never really pays off. Clouseau takes one look at him, and they start a deducing showdown, sort of funny. Molina plays Pepperidge, a Sherlockian type who claims to be a great deducer of clues. Rai is breathtaking in Bollywood films, where they devote a great deal of expertise to admiring beauty, but here's she's underutilized and too much in the background. That creates a rom-com situation that's sort muted because of Jacques and Nicole's shyness, and because the film seems reluctant to foreground Sonia very much. The Italian team member Vincenzo (Andy Garcia), family name Doncorleone, moves on Nicole and tells Clouseau that Sonia (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) likes him. Clouseau is chosen, despite the apoplectic agitation of Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Cleese), to join an international police Dream Team to thwart the possible deed.Īlso onstage is Clouseau's assistant Nicole (Emily Mortimer), a fragrant rose she and Jacques are so in love with each other, they cannot even bring themselves to admit it. Next may be the Pink Panther, the diamond that is, for some reason, the symbol of France's greatness and not merely an example of carbon under great pressure. The plot: "The Tornado" has stolen the Magna Carta, the Japanese Emperor's sword and the Shroud of Turin. Steve Martin is a genius, too, but not at being Clouseau. Peter Sellers was a genius who somehow made Inspector Clouseau seem as if he really were helplessly incapable of functioning in the real world and somehow incapable of knowing that. Edwards was a truly inspired director of comedies (" The Party," "SOB," " Victor/Victoria"). Then there's the albatross of the Blake Edwards/ Peter Sellers films. Maybe the cast is simply too star-studded? There's sometimes the feeling they're being cycled onscreen by twos and threes, just to keep them alive. The actors are let down by the screenplay and direction, which don't really pop the supporting characters out into strong comic focus. However, when Clouseau discovers something the others don't know, it's up to him to bring the real criminal to justice before the Tornado can steal again.As the movie began, my smile faded. When the Tornado steals the Pope's ring, Clouseau then causes further public humiliation, leading to his removal from the Dream Team. When Clouseau tracks down the black market salesman and spies on him, he gets distracted when he sees the girl he loves on a date with another man, and his efforts to spy on her result in disaster. They find a black market salesman who they suspect may be the Tornado, but it turns out to be a false lead- or so they thought, as the salesman later contacts the Tornado, who informs him (and the audience) that one of the detectives on the Dream Team is secretly his accomplice. The Dream Team of detectives makes their way to France (bringing Clouseau back with them, much to Dreyfus' dismay). Sure enough, as soon as Clouseau leaves, the Tornado finds his way into Paris and steals The Pink Panther. Clouseau fears that if he leaves, the valuable Pink Panther Diamond, which he has tasked himself to protect, will be stolen, but Dreyfus sends him regardless. Police units from around the world have sent their best detectives to assemble a dream team to stop this dastardly thief, and Dreyfus wants Clouseau to go, so that he may be utterly out of his depths and as far from Dreyfus as possible. Dreyfus, who had assigned Clouseau to be a parking officer just to keep a distance between them, informs Clouseau that an international thief called The Tornado has been stealing historical items from around the globe. Inspector Clouseau is a bumbling police officer, sweet as can be, but utterly loathed by his high-strung boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus. An inept police inspector attempts to bring down an international thief, bungling the efforts of other detectives along the way.
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