That was the working title of The Pink Panther (circa 2006), which I just got back from seeing. As such a huge part of my paradigm, it is very appropriate that the movie came out on my birthday. Some of you, of course, know very well that The Pink Panther has played this role in my life, given that I used it as the theme in my Ditch Day stack and the fact that I hosted several viewings of Pink Panther movies in Lloyd back in the day.
This film was billed as a prequel, although it takes place in the modern era (Clouseau isn't lonely because of the internet, for example). What makes it so is that we see how Clouseau is promoted to Inspector, which is where we get the working title.
Steve Martin did a good job as Clouseau, although I wish Dreyfuss were more neurotic (though Dreyfuss was given roughly the correct amount of abuse). The opening cartoon was awesome. The Clouseau in it was (sensibly) made to look like Steve Martin rather than Peter Sellers. Martin's pre-Inspector outfit reminds me a bit of my version of Clouseau. (There are also some familiar people in the picture with me.) I also wish Cato were around.
Anyway, the movie was very good, although it doesn't match the genius of the original series of films. (The key, of course, is not to hold it up to such standards.) Blake Edwards kind of got shafted in the making of this film, which is really too bad. Nevertheless, I recommend the film highly---don't let the low IMDB rating scare you.
Here are some other not-so-random thoughts: The identity of the murderer was pretty obvious to the audience very early in the film (from meta-knowledge). The James Bond reference was gratuitous (though somewhat amusing). The thing about finding everybody with the name 'You' was highly amusing (and was brought back in the end in a cool manner). At the end, Clouseau solved the murder by figuring things out rather than by stumbling into the perpetrator. True, there was plenty of stumbling, but (IMO) Clouseau simply shouldn't be actually solving any crimes by correct deduction!
Anyway, stop reading this and go see the film!
2 days ago
2 comments:
I have to say, it was fun. Better than I expected, though I didn't expect much.
"Are you lonely?"
"Not since the internet."
There are times when the movie made me groan a bit. There were also times where it completely nailed it. Seemingly running a joke a bit too far, and then capping it off in a way that just works. For example:
"We need fresh towels in 204." (You'll understand when you see it.)
The opening cartoon was a hands-down "winnar".
The mixes of the classic theme they played were great.
Nicole was hot. Beyonce was too.
There's something I've been disagreeing with Mason about ever since the first previews showed up. I *cough* respect *cough* his opinion, but I'll take Jean Reno over Cato any day. Hell, I would have even watched Brokeback if it had Jean Reno in it. I'm not just being a Jean Reno fanboy here (not just). He manages to play a great straight man without seeming like there's a stick up his butt. I respect that in a completely heterosexual, manly way.
Oh, and Dreyfuss--yeah, he wasn't nearly as neurotic, but he became increasingly so over the course of the movie. Started out perfectly calm, and slowly developed a bit of a twitch... I can dig it.
I wasn't expecting much either. There were some good reasons to worry. (The 'fresh towels' comment was indeed excellent. It would have been even nicer, however, if that capper hadn't shown up in any of the trailers, so that I didn't see it coming.)
I agree that the movie made me groan several times.
Lemming, it's wonderful to know that you have so much "respect" for me. :) Anyway, I don't remember having seen Jean Reno in a film before, though I have been aware for a while that you're a fanboy. I agree he did a very good job, but I still like the character of Cato and Reno's character need not be interpreted as having replaced Cato---in at least one of the older films (and I think perhaps more than one of them), Clouseau does have a straight-faced person as an assistant and Cato is also in the film. It's true that they referred to the 'keeping alert' business, but in the older films Clouseau very rarely ended up being the one initiating the attack against Cato (who was explicitly not playing a straight-faced character), so I see no reason why both characters could not have been included. Reno's character was good, but it should have been in addition to Cato. (Besides, we need to have a love scene for Clouseau in which Cato attacks. Scenes like that were signatures of the series. I would also love to see a modern update of the 'geisha house' scene, which could easily have been done after the embarrassing incident at the airport and before Clouseau was allowed to be free.)
That's a good point that he started getting a bit of a twitch, although I like the older portrayal of Dreyfuss much better.
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