The Pink Panther (2006)

Plot of The Pink Panther: In an international football match, the French team win, but during the after match hugs the manager, Yves Gluant, is killed with a poison dart, and his diamond ring (The Pink Panther) stolen. Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, picks out the clueless Jacques Clouseau to lead an investigation, while he, secretly, also tracks down the murderer. Involved in the investigation is Xania a pop star, who seems keen to seduce Clouseau, but meanwhile his assistant Nicole is obviously in love with him. Due to the involvement of Nigel Boswell, an MI6 agent, Clouseau is accidentally nominated or the Legion d’honneur, an award coveted by Dreyfus. Meanwhile Dreyfus is on the wrong track and Clouseau, despite his accidents, is making progress.

Content: No sex or nudity, or drinking or drug taking or anything to offend, apart from the whole film. Clouseau, bumbles and causes accidents and incidents. He spins a large globe in the police headquarters and it falls from the bearings and rolls off down the road, to demolish a cycle race, he constantly attacks curtains to ensure that there is no-one behind them, at one point injuring Dreyfus . He sets fire to other curtains and in an attempt to extinguish the blaze causes a flood and falls through the floor onto the hotel reception desk. He goes to America and is stopped at the airport, in part because the drug detection dog sniffs out the hamburgers in his pockets. And there is more.

A View: I have read that Sony were unhappy with the “raunchy tone”, hence it was heavily edited and certain scenes were reshot to create a more family friendly movie. This may account for the desperate awfulness of the film. It was nominated in the Razzies and the Stinkers, and as usual I wonder what could have beaten it to the awards. This is a terrible film, so give it a miss even if it is offered for nothing on your TV. I awarded it three out of ten, because it does have a plot.

Fun Fact: There is a sequel, even less favourably reviewed than this outing.