The Pink Panther Information

The Pink Panther is a 2006 American mystery slapstick comedy film and a reboot of The Pink Panther film series. In this film, Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin) is assigned to solve the murder of a famous soccer coach and the theft of the famous Pink Panther diamond. The film also stars Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, and Beyoncé Knowles. Despite a negative reception from critics and a 23% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was a commercial success and one of Steve Martin's most successful to date, grossing almost $160 million at the box office.

Plot

The film opens as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) narrates a flashback of a soccer match semi-final between France and China. French coach Yves Gluant (Jason Statham) comes down the stadium, wearing the Pink Panther diamond ring, and kisses his girlfriend, pop star Xania (Beyoncé Knowles), after whispering something to her. After France wins the game, Yves dies with a poison dart in his neck and the Pink Panther missing from his hand. Eager to win the Medal of Honor (the Légion d'honneur), Dreyfus promotes a clumsy policeman and "village idiot", Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin), to the rank of Inspector and assigns him to the Pink Panther case. Meanwhile, Dreyfus assembles a secret team of top investigators to crack the case, allowing Clouseau to serve as the public face of the investigation so that media attention is focused on Clouseau rather than Dreyfus's team. Dreyfus assigns Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno) as Clouseau's assistant and instructs Ponton to keep him informed of Clouseau's actions. However, Dreyfus did not count on Ponton becoming good friends with Clouseau, and becoming remorseful of his orders.

Bizu (William Abadie), the prime suspect, being a star footballer who hated Gluant, is shot in the head and killed. While at a casino to interrogate its owner, Raymond Larocque (Roger Rees), Gluant's business partner, Clouseau encounters British Secret Agent 006, Nigel Boswell (Clive Owen, parodying James Bond); he was using the same cover sentence Clouseau uses when looking for wires, so the Inspector discovered his identity quickly. Boswell foils a robbery at the casino by the notorious "Gas-Masked Bandits", using Clouseau's trenchcoat to hide his identity. Clouseau mistakenly receives credit for the deed in the press and is nominated for the Medal of Honour, much to Dreyfus' dismay.

Clouseau follows Xania to New York City, suspecting that she knows more than she is telling. However, despite Ponton's insistence that she is most likely a suspect because Gluant cheated on her, Clouseau decides Xania is innocent. Meanwhile, based on the fact that the poison that killed Gluant was derived from Chinese herbs, Dreyfus concludes that the killer is a Chinese envoy named Dr. Pang. Now ready to take charge of the case and win the Medal of Honour, Dreyfus has one of his officers switch Clouseau's bag with one full of weapons at the airport for his return flight to France. The bag sets off the metal detector at the security gate and Clouseau is arrested, thanks to his inability to pronounce the word "hamburger" correctly (he had smuggled some for the trip back and was asked by the guard what was in his pockets), the guard believing he said "Damburgert". Upon his return to France, the press vilifies him and Dreyfus strips him of his rank for "trying to become a hero". The Chief Inspector now plots to publicly arrest Dr. Pang at the Presidential Ball, where Xania will also be performing.

At home, Clouseau is reading an online article about his arrest when he notices something significant in the photo. He deduces that the murderer will next try to kill Xania, and contacts Ponton. The two detectives rush to the "?lysée Palace and sneak into the Presidential Ball with the help of Dreyfus's secretary, Nicole Durant (Emily Mortimer). While Dreyfus arrests Dr. Pang for double murder, Clouseau and Ponton save Xania's life by capturing her would-be assassin, Yuri (Henry Czerny), the French soccer team's trainer, who believes he was the one who helped the team succeed, though Gluant took all the credit. Clouseau first explains that (based on information from a Chinese woman he interrogated) every national soccer team's trainer is required by statute to have a knowledge of Chinese herbs, then notes that Bizu blackmailed Yuri from overhearing his rants against Gluant prior, resulting in Bizu being shot in the occipital lobe of the brain as Russian military are specifically trained to do; this leads Clouseau to believe Yuri to be the killer (he was the one who jabbed the poison dart into Glaunt's neck and shot Bizu in the head). Clouseau reveals that Yuri tried to kill Xania out of revenge for her dismissal of him as nothing, while dating Gluant. Clouseau also reveals that the Pink Panther diamond was never stolen, but is sewn into the lining of Xania's purse; Xania received it from Gluant as an engagement ring. She had kept it secret to avoid becoming a suspect in her late fiance's murder, which could have destroyed her singing career. Clouseau explains that he saw the diamond in the online photograph of his arrest, which showed Xania's purse on the airport's luggage scanner, but concludes that Xania is the rightful owner of the ring, as Gluant gave it to her before his death.

For successfully solving the case, Clouseau wins the Medal of Honour. While leaving with Ponton, following the ceremony, Clouseau accidentally gets Dreyfus's jacket caught on his car; he remains oblivious to Dreyfus yelling in pain for him to stop the car. Dreyfus ends up in the hospital, severely injured and in several casts. Clouseau, Ponton and Nicole visit him. Dreyfus tries conveying his hatred of Clouseau to the inspector, but cannot speak clearly due to his injuries. After Clouseau wishes him well, the brake on Dreyfus's bed is accidentally released by the inspector. The bed races through the hospital and throws Dreyfus into the Seine. All three look at the open window Dreyfus fell from. Clouseau simply says "That breeze feels good."

Cast

Main cast

• Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau
• Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus
• Jean Reno as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton
• Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant
• Henry Czerny as Yuri the Trainer
• Kristin Chenoweth as Cherie (bit-part)
• Roger Rees as Raymmond Laroque (bit-part)
• Beyoncé Knowles as Xania

Supporting cast

• William Abadie as Bizu
• Scott Adkins as Jacquard
• Charlotte Maier as Dialect Coach
• Anna Katarina as Agent Corbeille
• Alice Taglioni as Female Reporter
• Kristi Angus as Mysterious Woman
• Chelah Horsdal as Security Guard
• Delphine Chanéac as Ticket Checker (as Délphine Chaneac)
• Yvonne Sciò as Casino Waitress
• Jason Statham as Yves Gluant (uncredited)
• Clive Owen as Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 (uncredited)
• Paul Korda as Pierre Fuquette (uncredited)

Of note, Jackie Chan was originally offered the part of Clouseau's manservant, Cato Fong, but turned it down due to his perceived political incorrectness. Gilbert Ponton serves as Cato's stand-in.

Production

A re-collaboration between Steve Martin and producer Robert Simonds, the successful teaming behind Cheaper By The Dozen, The Pink Panther had a production budget of US$65 million. Filming began on May 10, 2004.

Reception

Critical response

The film received generally negative reviews. The film holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a score of 38 on Metacritic.

Box office

The Pink Panther opened atop the US weekend box office for February 10–12, 2006, grossing $20,220,412 from 3,477 theaters, and took in an additional $20,863,217 the following three day holiday weekend. The film closed in US theaters on April 16, 2006, having grossed $82,226,474 in its ten weeks of release. Overseas, the film took $76,624,883, resulting in total box office gross revenue of $158,851,357. US screenings made up 51.8% of box office takings, with international viewings responsible for 48.2%. The Pink Panther is the highest-grossing film in reboot of The Pink Panther franchise.

Home media

The Pink Panther was released for home viewing on June 13, 2006, and sold 693,588 DVD copies, worth $9,391,182. To date the film has sold 1,579,116 copies—$23,216,770 of consumer spending.

Music

Christophe Beck is credited with the film score which was released as the soundtrack album The Pink Panther about one month following the release of the film. Singer Beyoncé Knowles performed two songs for the film, "A Woman Like Me" and "Check on It". The latter serves as the film's theme song aside from the Pink Panther theme.

Numerous other songs were used in small parts, but only Beck's original score was included on the soundtrack album.

Sequels

See The Pink Panther 2 for more information The sequel to this film, titled The Pink Panther 2, was released on February 6, 2009. It again features Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau and Jean Reno as Gendarme Ponton, but was notable for having John Cleese as Dreyfus instead of Kevin Kline. The film features Clouseau and a "Dream Team" of the world's best detectives formed to catch the international mastermind thief El Tornado, who has stolen several valuable treasures, including the Shroud of Turin, the Pope's Ring and the Pink Panther diamond itself. The film grossed $75,946,615 at the box office.