The Pink Panther 2

"Let me bring you up to speed. We know nothing. Now you are up to speed." Thus is the bumbling, deadpan persona of Inspector Clouseau, as re-invented by Steve Martin, best summed up. In this sequel to the 2006 remake of the classic Peter Sellers films, Martin gets crisper direction and a smarter script than he did the first time out. Martin, to his great credit, has never been afraid to make himself look foolish or to take pratfalls--and if the viewer finds these remakes to be less satirical than the original Sellers films, he will still be letting our great laughs and chuckles through the course of the film. And what a cast! Martin is joined by John Cleese, Jeremy Irons, Lily Tomlin, Jean Reno, Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai, Emily Mortimer, Alfred Molina, and Andy Garcia--all of whom seem to be having a delightful romp--a feeling that’s contagious. The story picks up where the last film ended, with Clouseau’s having saved the precious Pink Panther diamond in Paris. Since then, Clouseau has been reassigned to parking-ticket duty, to keep him off the frayed nerves of Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Cleese). But a band of international thieves is wreaking havoc on the world’s treasures, and, before you can say minkey, the priceless Pink Panther goes missing, again. If plot’s a bit predictable, it’s no matter, since the phun is in the haplessness of Clouseau and the rings of nuclear fallout that surround him. And you may never pronounce hamburger the same way. Evair!--A.T. Hurley