Oh man, as much as I love Steve Martin, and as much as I love the old Pink Panther movies… I’ve got a really bad feeling about this project. The trailer didn’t do much to alleviate my fears. However, you can judge for yourself. The good folks over at dTheatre give us this:
Steve Martin will play Inspector Clouseau in the new “Pink Panther” movie, which will be directed by Shawn Levy (“Cheaper by the Dozen”) and is produced by Ivan Reitman (“Old School”). Martin’s costars include Beyonce Knowles (“Destiny’s Child”), Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda,” “Wild, Wild West”), and French actor Jean Reno (“The Professional,” “Mission: Impossible”).
You can watch the trailer here.
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Actually, I think the trailer reflects the slapstick spirit of the original films. I’ll be the first to admit that nobody can compare with Peter Sellers, but I liked the feel of the preview. I look forward to seeing the whole film before passing final judgement.
*Headdeskkeyboardfloor*
Oy Vey
You know…I saw the first Pink Panther and I didn’t think it was that funny. I did, however, love Peter Sellers and his acting and the story. I don’t know if this movie looks any good. Just throw some big names into the cast, take the original movie song that everyone is familiar with and give it a stupid new-age urban beat, cross your fingers, and hope for movie box office gold! It’s a trend. Turn all of our beloved classics into remakes to make some money for the studio. It’s ok, the cows and sheep will herd themselves into any piece of shit movie.
every movie that steve martin has made after bowfinger has sucked bad. bowfinger was incredibly smart and witty but wtf happened after that? a couple of remakes and some crap?
c’mon steve…let’s get small.
Personally I thought Jean Reno would have made a better Inspector Clouseau. You just can’t remake something that was genious in the first place.
Speaking of Peter Sellers have you guys seen the trailer for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”? I can’t remember if ther was a post about it but Geoffrey Rush does for Peter Sellers what Jim Carrey did for Andy Kaufman. It looks amazing.
Love Martin, Reno, and Kline, but a great ensemble cast does not necessarily equal a great movie. For me a red flag was Beyonce (what kind of name is that anyway?), and truthfully I thought that at best the trailer was unfunny and at worst painful in it’s unfunniness (is that even a word?).
And what’s up with Jason Strathom appearing in movies for a couple of minutes and that’s it? I like the guy and would like to see more of him on screen.
Vic
Well my movie dork friends, I must add that I too have very mixed feeelings about this picture. I love Steve Martin, I love that his career has been in high swing -not bad for a guy who has to be pushing 60- and I would hate to see him ruin what he has going. But after viewing the trailer I can point out a few things that will save this flick. The first thing is that Kevin klein is playing the comishinor (spelling?), and he will be a positive counterpart to Steves Inspector Clouseau. Also Jean Reno was fantastic in the Profestional and I truly enjoyed him in Mission Impossible, so I think he will certainly add to the cemistry of the movie. Finally casting Beyonce Knowles -as much as a waste of acting time that is- will put the butts in the seats, giving the movie more exsposure than if it was just Steve. I am worried but I will remain optimistic.
I was ready to post a comment to the effect of “this is going to be an embarrassing disaster” but then I watched the trailer and it actually looks quite funny. Of course, people will draw comparisons with Peter Sellers, and no-one will ever be able to play the role as well as he did.
But the Steve Martin version, in it’s own right, may be a good movie. Let us not forget that some of the Pink Panther sequels themselves were quite awful with Sellers being the only saving grace. However, critics will immediately get a burst of self-righteousness and hate it.
Shared bad feeling there dude. Pink Panther is an institution made great by Peter Sellers, he is stunning in that role and they are some of the funniest films ever.
What Martin is thinking in attempting to tackle that subject is in his own head, perhaps he does know that they can be made really well…however I can’t see how he can replace Sellers, I’m afraid he just doesn’t have the same talent.