Even after talking to the man, I don't really know why, other than for a paycheque, Steve Martin took on the role of Inspector Clouseau in the first place, let alone starred in a sequel.
But like a coma patient who squeezes your hand to let you know he's sort of still in there, the otherwise moribund The Pink Panther 2 has a couple of moments that suggest the guy who gave us The Jerk might still be alive.
Unfortunately, they're all in the trailers, and badly executed at that. (An actually clever scene where Clouseau opens a stable gate and is trampled at silent-movie speed is butchered in the trailer cut, and there's a dry, post-modern gag with a fake tape recorder that's really a pen that was worth a Pythonesque chuckle).
Beyond those flickering nanoseconds of mirth, it's hard to imagine how people such as Martin, John Cleese and Lily Tomlin could combine to create something so comically inert.
I don't really buy into the idea that it's all an affront to the memory of Peter Sellers. Those Blake Edwards Pink Panther movies were for adults, and Martin has at least steered his interpretation of the character toward children. It's just hard to imagine The Pink Panther 2 holding their attention.
In Pink Panther 2, Martin returns along with Jean Reno as Clouseau's faithful partner Ponton, and Emily Mortimer as his besotted assistant Nicole. (Clouseau's resentful boss, played by Kevin Kline previously, is played by Cleese here, literally banging his head against the wall for elusive laughs).
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When world-famous treasures including the Shroud of Turin, the Pope's ring and, yes, the Pink Panther jewel are stolen by a thief called The Tornado, Clouseau is inducted into an international "dream team" of detectives played by the likes of Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina and Bollywood superstarlet Aishwarya Rai.
The movie also reunites Martin with Lily Tomlin (All Of Me), with her role as a "sensitivity counsellor," who must cure him of his anachronistic attitudes toward women and minorities. Example: he calls his Japanese colleague Kenji (Yuki Matsuzaki) "my little yellow friend." It's a bit that goes nowhere.
After some ham-handed escapades (again, pretty much given away in the trailers -- such as Clouseau, dressed as the Pope, hanging from the Vatican balcony), we are left at the inevitable point where the Inspector is apparently exposed as a fool and must bumble his way back to heroism.
Proof of the kidflick path of this Pink Panther series comes when Ponton's wife kicks both him and his two boys out of the house, to move into Uncle Jacques' house.
The karate-mad kids leap out at Clouseau from around corners when least expected -- the only real tip of the hat Martin makes to Sellers' Clouseau (remember "Kato! There is a time and a place!") There's really no other reason to have them around than to make it more kid-friendly and to steal the vibe of that bit.
Here's hoping Martin now moves on, perhaps to revive some other defunct franchise. The Three Stooges, by the way, is taken.
http://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=almosthuman99
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