No patch on the original

Pink Panther 2
Cast: Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, Yuki Matsuzaki, Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai, John Cleese, Andria Blackman, Zofia Borucka
Director: Harald Zwart
Rating: **

This second installment is a resurrection of the original series that top-lined Peter Sellers with Blake Edwards at the helm. This film credits Edwards with the writing but the directorial credits go to Harald Zwart and deservedly so.

Inspector Clousseau (Steve Martin) is called in to head the international dream team (Alfred Molina, Yuki Matsuzaki, Andy Garcia and Aishwarya Rai) put together from across the world in order to capture the elusive Tornado, jewel thief extraordinaire, who has recently stolen world treasures including the pink panther diamond.

This film is no patch on the original. Edwards and Sellers made a winning team full of goofy fun and rapscallion intrigue. In this edition, Steve Martin, despite his over-expressive antics, fails to entertain. His phony French accent is definitely an irritant. Harald Zwart’s narrative is full of slapstick routines put together to form a structure that is uninteresting and not as entertaining as the original. The dialogues are pretty banal too. Even the acting is not worth mentioning.

Aishwarya Rai, in a pivotal though brief role, is quite a misfit. Her diction and accent are far removed from the character she plays. The presence of stalwarts like Lily Tomlin, John Cleese, Alfred Molina and Andy Garcia may imply that the film is far more sophisticated and entertaining but believe me, there’s not much sense in this erratic comedy.