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. Has The Pink Panther 2 bumbled into making a relevant point? Idiotic but clever, and very Clouseau-esque.An inept police inspector attempts to bring down an international thief, bungling the efforts of other detectives along the way. In this the film itself seems an emblem of the conceit and reckless excess associated with the current state of affairs. And the Tornado’s motive for stealing national treasures - for mere sport rather than profit (all but the Pink Panther are considered “unfenceable”) - doesn’t sit quite right in the context of corporate collapse, multi-billion dollar Ponzi schemes, and government bailouts. The post-9/11 anti-French thing is hardly relevant anymore, especially against a backdrop of global economic doom. While these are decent physical comedy bits in their own right, they are enhanced by the silencing of Martin’s ridiculous approximation of a French accent.ĭespite these brief respites, The Pink Panther 2 is glaringly out of date.
Later, while the rest of the Dream Team interrogates the suspect Avelleneda (Jeremy Irons), all Clouseau’s investigative mishaps are captured soundlessly on the panel of security monitors in the background. When Clouseau goes to select a bottle of wine at a restaurant, we expect that this simple task will end with every bottle in the towering wine case smashed but instead, an elaborate and frantic juggling act develops. In fairness, The Pink Panther 2 does feature a couple of effective sight gags (a vague holdover from the Peter Sellers days). To pile on, Clouseau and Ponton offer up another awkward dance number while saying the word “jojoba” over and over. Just so, Dreyfus suffers frequent injuries inflicted by Clouseau, and we suffer through his mispronunciations of the word “hamburger,” repeated ad nauseam. Much of the “comedy” in The Pink Panther 2 is a rehashing of the jokes from the first film (itself a feeble remake of the original).
Ah yes, the inspector announces, “No man is an eez-land.” When Vincenzo (Andy Garcia) makes his own move on her, Clouseau is roused to jealousy, achieving his own meager insight with help from his partner Ponton (Jean Reno). Clouseau insists that he and Nicole remain professional, unaware that he is hurting her feelings. A second storyline centers on the maybe-romantic relationship between Clouseau and his assistant Nicole (Emily Mortimer), offering occasional relief from the mundane crime investigation and Mrs. Since we already know Clouseau will never learn this lesson, their interaction comes across as forced and pointless. Berenger (Lily Tomlin), a sort of sensitivity coach assigned to teach Clouseau that he can’t make racist or sexually charged remarks. He will, of course, make a fool of himself, on a global scale this time, before proving himself worthy of his Inspector’s rank - and even his Medal of Honor.Īmong his distractions is Mrs. Once more plucked out of obscurity and set on his usual path of destruction and humiliation, Clouseau applies his usual ineptitude with gusto. Selected for an international “Dream Team” of investigators, Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) here thwarts the efforts of Chief Inspector Dreyfus (John Cleese) to keep him out of sight (he’s been writing parking tickets, his French Medal of Honor dangling from his neck at all times). The culprit, named The Tornado, absconds with precious national artifacts, including the Magna Carta, the Shroud of Turin, the Imperial Sword, and eventually the treasure of France, the Pink Panther diamond.
PINK PATHER 2 SERIES
The Pink Panther 2 opens with a series of thefts.
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