The Pink Panther

If liking Steve Martin in The Pink Panther is wrong, I don’t want to be right. This enjoyable, farcical 2006 reboot of The Pink Panther film series boasts clever writing, slapstick humour, and a host of other goodies, making it one of the more surprising entries in the comedy category of 2006. With the majority of comedy films going the way of Apatow and Smith dialogue-heavy cuss fests that, while often very clever and funny, can alienate large amounts of the movie-going public, it’s refreshing to see a film like 2006’s The Pink Panther that aims to do homage to some of the older ideas of comedy. With Martin’s Inspector Clouseau making no attempts to channel Peter Sellers, The Pink Panther stands a better than average chance of being entertaining.

Comedy is an art form. Today’s modern comedies seem to have an innate focus on offensive humour, primarily, and the actual crafting of the joke or gag takes the secondary seat in most comedic writing. Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Good Luck Chuck, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and the other films released as comedies of the past while all seem to channel the same ideology and source material. Gross-out humour takes precedent and comedies are crafted much in the same manner of action films or science fiction films, becoming very pointed towards a demographic of the film-watching public and not pointed towards attention to detail and the crafting of quality films. This new breed of comedy is not all bad, mind you, and I do admire much of the Apatow stuff, but you’d have to be fairly ignorant of the genre to not sense a sea change in the past ten or so years.

Alas, comedies become very hit or miss. The crafting of running gags, parody, satire, and other elements take a backseat to Family Guy style humour that aims to offend. Comedies now compete to see who can be most shocking, lewd, and grotesquely outmoded. “Unrated” cuts of DVDs fill the racks at your local rental outlet as the envelopes continue to be pushed for the sake of it. While there are some geniuses still at work in the field, like Woody Allen, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Mel Brooks, and the Farrelly Brothers, most modern comedic writers fail at the balance between offensive humour and purely fun gags that the Farrelly Brothers and Mel Brooks have mastered for years. It seems we live in an age in which comedy is taken very seriously and with an ignorance of comedies at most major awards ceremonies and with critics, it’s no small wonder that comedy is heading in a different direction. Have we all outgrown The Naked Gun, Hot Shots!, Dumb and Dumber, Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, and Spaceballs already?

Enter The Pink Panther to answer that question. Rest assured, I’m not suggesting that this 2006 film belongs in the pantheon of the aforementioned greats, but I do think this Shawn Levy directed comedy hits on some of the same notes. Steve Martin not only stars in the film, but also contributed to the screenplay, along with Len Blum and Michael Saltzman. With Martin’s input, the comedy in The Pink Panther suddenly reaches to places it likely never would have gone before. Forget the Blake Edwards direction and Peter Sellers. This film is significantly aware of itself, down to the accents, and knows the tongue-in-cheek approach it is aiming for with intimate realization.

Steve Martin is Inspector Clouseau, the most incompetent policeman in France. Martin plays Clouseau with both subtlety and slapstick obviousness. He leaps around like an idiot in some scenes, whereas the comedy in other scenes is based around Martin’s over-enunciation of the French language. His pronunciation of the word “hamburger” is especially of note. This is done as a parody of a parody, in essence, as Martin’s Clouseau aims to take shots at the passing stereotypes of French culture as evidenced in other American films and culture. The Pink Panther does not lampoon the French, rather it lampoons the lampooning of the French with a series of running gags and parting shots.

With Martin as Clouseau, the Inspector is dispatched to track down the killer of a famous soccer coach and recover a large pink diamond. Kevin Kline, who is always a treat to watch, is Dreyfus, the Chief Inspector who is after the diamond and thinks he can set the media off the trail by dispatching Clouseau to “look for the real killer” while the Chief Inspector works at cracking the case for his own ego. Beyonce Knowles stars as the girlfriend of the deceased soccer star and Jean Reno is the officer assigned to help Clouseau with the case. The chemistry between Reno and Martin is highly entertaining, too, including a scene in which the pair dances to get security off of their case. There is also an uncredited Clive Owen cameo in which the actor plays Agent 006, an obviously parody of James Bond and the rumours of Owen playing the super spy.

The humour is slapstick in nature and most of it is significantly over the top. Bathtubs fly through floors, a giant globe rolls down the street, French cyclists keep being injured, Clouseau messes up over and over again, and countless things keep happening coincidentally. A lot of people, like Roger Ebert, will suggest that there can only be one Clouseau. I would agree with that had I gathered that Steve Martin’s portrayal was intent on emulating and imitating Peter Sellers. Alas, I can’t say that. The accent is different and there is a different grain to Martin’s portrayal. He is a gifted actor and, while this is not stellar performance by any stretch, it’s very clear that he’s having a hell of a great time in the role. The rest of the cast seems to be enjoying themselves, too, which is a definite plus when it comes to comedy.

The Pink Panther is not going to change any hearts or minds and, frankly, neither is this review. I think what it can do, however, is to open the door to possibility and to a possible rediscovery of the finer elements of slapstick and comic timing. Bring the artist back into the comedy genre, I say. Bring back slapstick performances that are worth something in the public eye. It’s time to stop taking comedy so seriously. The Pink Panther will be worthwhile if the audience can accomplish that.

Trailer: