First Hit: Better than Steve Martin’s first attempt at being Inspector Clouseau and although there are funny bits, it isn’t any better than the original Pink Panthers starring Peter Sellers.
I’m not sure why Steve Martin decided to do remakes of the Pink Panther series. Maybe it is because he admired Peter Sellers so much, I don’t know. Lord knows Martin has enough writing talent to create something better (“Shopgirl” or even better his play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”), however he’s chosen to redo the Pink Panther films.
His first attempt was an obvious attempt to recreate Peter Sellers’ version of the character. However, in this attempt Steve is more relaxed and plays to his own strengths (the flamenco dance was perfect Martin). As Clouseau, he is part of “The Dream Team” of top police inspectors who work on big international cases. As soon as he leave France the Pink Panther diamond is stolen from a French museum.
Clouseau and the dream team then make attempts to solve the crime. Having a group of other good inspectors on the case helps this film and gives Martin foils to expand his type of humor.
Martin is much better and more relaxed as Clouseau in this film. The story line is expanded with the addition of Andy Garcia as Vicenzo, Alfred Molina as Pepperidge, and Yuki Matsuzaki as Kenji who make up “The Dream Team”. Garcia was funny as a suave inspector from Italy. Lily Tomlin played Mrs. Berenger an officer who helps officers be socially correct and on their best behavior. I couldn’t help but think this was an added on part to boost up the comedic aspects for Martin.
Overall: This film had some funny bits and was overall somewhat enjoyable but comes nowhere near the films he is complementing.