The Pink Panther 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Martin (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is so uninspired and dull in this witless movie, he almost -- almost -- makes you long for Adam Sandler. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's time to let the Inspector rest in peace. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: You could wander into The Pink Panther for any 15-minute period, laugh a couple of times and leave without wondering for a moment how things will turn out. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: We responded to Sellers' Clouseau because his foolishness and fakery echoed something deeply human as well as hilarious. We respond to Martin mostly because he's a funny guy in a silly mustache, cutting up and trying to make us laugh. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: What is the point? Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The prospect of reviving Peter Sellers' Pink Panther character, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, may not tickle anyone pink, but Steve Martin's version isn't nearly as bad as you'd think. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The Pink Panther moves Clouseau into the modern world while keeping the jokes older than dirt. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: The Pink Panther doesn't mess around. It goes south in a hurry. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Well, at least Steve Martin's trying to be funny again. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Martin's Clouseau is as clumsy and hapless as his predecessor and probably more innocent. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It doesn't stink. Au contraire: It's good. Maybe not a masterwork, but good enough to redeem the series and its intrepid, mustachioed twit. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: This must be the first time that a great comic has taken over the signature role of another great comic and made it his own. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: It's not quite on the high comedic plane of 'Do you have a license for that moon-key?' But AM-bourg-airs will do. Just ask the kids. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The Pink Panther is like a pratfall that doesn't work. It should be funny, but it hurts more than it should. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Director Shawn Levy and his team squander Martin's old-timey hipster appeal. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The Pink Panther, while hardly the disaster it might have been, renders the love as labored as the pronunciation. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: The most effective way of reviewing the new Pink Panther movie would be to issue two reviews. One would be a simply worded warning to adults: Skip it if you can. Read more

Christopher Orr, L.A. Weekly: As is so often the case with Hollywood retreads, the joke is on us. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Cheaper by the Dozen may have affirmed Levy's credentials as a director of domestic comedy, but he seems clueless with this sort of banana-peel shtick. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The film has its stumbling points, but it offers a sufficient amount of laughter. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Under his coat, the Panther must be pink with embarrassment. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Brilliant Martin, an intellectual comic who started his career slumming in sophomoric slapstick, is entirely too uptight to be genius Sellers' greatest creation. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For those who recall Sellers and the role he made famous, 'travesty' seems to be the right descriptor. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: At every moment in the movie, I was aware that Peter Sellers was Clouseau, and Steve Martin was not. I hadn't realized how thoroughly Sellers and Edwards had colonized my memory. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: If The Pink Panther has any value at all, it's in the way its failure demonstrates the delicate nature of comedy, and the skill of other comedies by contrast. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: This movie leaves us with the stale whiff of fake nostalgia and something even more odoriferous: the smell of money. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Pink Panther does justice to the old Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers crime comedies -- it's almost as good as the best of those films, far better than the worst -- but doesn't depend on viewers being familiar with them. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The trouble is the movie has little to offer except Martin's set pieces, which feel off-the-cuff, and, even in the roughly one-in-four times they work, far too drawn out. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: As if the curse of the Pink Panther wasn't dire enough, Martin's Clouseau is haunted by more than the ghost of Peter Sellers. He's also being trailed by the old Steve Martin. Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: The plot, needless to say, is negligible. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Even if you give Sellers the edge in facial expressions, Martin is his equal in mangled verbiage. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Steve Martin's foray as Inspector Clouseau exhibits bursts of wild-and-craziness, but hardly enough to sustain even its relatively brief running time. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Village Voice: The most that can be said for this strenuously bland reconstitution is that Steve Martin was clearly alive during filming. But just how alive, unfortunately, is at issue. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The Pink Panther ees, how you say, ze real dog. Read more