Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers may have had trouble working together, and they may have fought bitterly when they did collaborate, but the truth is that they managed to create some inspired silliness when they worked together, and even if the PINK PANTHER films aren’t particularly highbrow, there are moments of magic in each of the films that featured both Sellers and Edwards as creative partners. More tellingly, every other film about the Pink Panther diamond or about Inspector Clouseau that was made without both Sellers and Edwards involved absolutely undeniably sucks.
Ted Wass, Roberto Benigni, and even the great Alan Arkin have all crashed and burned to various degrees in trying to bend the Pink Panther series to their own personalities. I think the truth is that there’s really not much material here worth doing if you don’t have Sellers involved. And I’m not being a fanatical purist, either... it’s just that these are not story-driven films, and they’re not really “about” anything. In the first film, Clouseau was a supporting character, but it was obvious that audiences flipped for him more than anything else in the movie. A SHOT IN THE DARK, a play that had already been running onstage, was purchased by the studio and quickly reconfigured into a Clouseau film, and in many ways, it’s one of the purest. Because the film isn’t focused on the Pink Panther diamond for once, Clouseau and his insane techniques are front and center, and the film is fall-down funny. There was a layoff for a while because Edwards and Sellers weren’t getting along, but eventually money and career missteps led both of them to realize that a Pink Panther reunion could be huge as a payday and could also give them some much-needed clout for other projects. The rest of the series during Sellers’s lifetime got progressively sillier, but there were always moments in each film that made them worthwhile.
So after the embarrassment of trying to step into the shoes of Phil Silvers as SGT. BILKO, why would Steve Martin make the same mistake again and try to ursurp Sellers by playing Clouseau?
Even more shocking is the fact that Steve Martin has a co-screenplay credit on this thing. I’m genuinely at a loss to explain any of this. I mean, sure, I get it. They probably paid Steve a bundle to do this film. But for someone who was a Martin fan back in the day, for someone who believed in the promise of THE JERK and DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID and ALL OF ME and THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS and his albums and his SNL appearances... as someone who respects his work as a writer on films like ROXANNE and LA STORY... and as someone who was surprised and moved by his work in SHOPGIRL... this is just a soul-crusher. This is the most painful, unfunny thing he’s done in a while, and I’m including those awful FATHER OF THE BRIDE and CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN films in that statement. This is sad because you’re watching one of the great screen clowns of a generation go down in flames because he’s desperately trying to ape the act of a great screen clown from an earlier generation and coming up short in every way. The supporting cast tries hard here, with Jean Reno and Kevin Kline working overtime to try and convince the audience that this is not an abomination. Kline comes closest to hitting the mark, I think, and in a great PINK PANTHER film, he might actually be the right man to play Chief Inspector Dreyfuss. Beyonce Knowles does nothing here to assuage fears that she’s out of her league in the upcoming DREAMGIRLS adaptation. As with GOLDMEMBER, she sleepwalks through the movie, looking unreasonably hot but contributing nothing in terms of screen presence. Finally, Shawn Levy continues to distinguish himself as an absolutely useless filmmaker, right on par with Tim Story and Adam Schenkman. These guys are turning out pre-digested crap and the audience just keeps lapping it up, and it’s starting to scare me a little. Is this really all it takes these days?
The disc itself looks and sounds very good, with a crisp 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and a vivid color palette. There are a number of extra features, but the film knocked the wind out of me so hard that I couldn’t really brave the extras short of watching the Beyonce video for “Check On It,” which made my son dance and clap his hands, so I guess the disc wasn’t a complete loss.
MOVIE: Skip it
DISC CONTENT: Average
DISC QUALITY: Nice
"Moriarty" out.
