Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The Pink Panther

Oh dear. This was rather like watching a feature-length selection of deleted scenes....or at least scenes that ought to have been deleted.

The question is no longer just why isn't Steve Martin funny any more, but also what the hell has he done to his face? Even if Martin had managed to make the character his own, Kevin Kline's performance alone would have wrecked this movie.

The originals are not actually as hilarious as many of us remember, but they had great charm, and it was Sellars's absorbing persona and comic timing that had us all sniggering. You can learn a lot about America's changing attitude to all things French by comparing them with this update.

As for the panther that is pink, I am a complete fanboy. I have all the cartoons on DVD. (My father was Henry Mancini's agent too.)

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