A lot of people dismiss this stance in the Pink Panther canon simply because it does not feature the great Peter Sellers in the titular role of Inspector Clouseau. Unfortunately, there's a whole bunch of other reasons this movie is simply bad.
First of all, the story is silly, naive, full of holes and outrageous plot devices and it generally feels as if it was written by a six year old after watching the first two Pink Panther films. I understand that this is supposed to be a comedy (and also that the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films are not IQ bending mysteries either), but I honestly can not believe that the writers thought the audience would buy this.
The acting in general is on a school play level, with a good actor such as Alan Arkin failing miserably somewhere in between the attempts to copy Peter Sellers and to develop a character on his own. The expression "wooden acting" applies here literally - Arkin's screen appearance seems as if he was in fact made of wood or forgot a coat hanger in his jacket, and although somewhat stiff motion was one of the signature traits of Sellers' Clouseau, it simply does not suit a ten years younger and much more physical Arkin here. However, Arkin does manage to extort a few chuckles here and there, but mostly so just by being laughably unconvincing in a role tailor-made for another actor.
All in all, it's a sad attempt at comedy, at if this film was made in its own right instead of being made part of a hugely successful and memorable series, it would have been completely forgotten by today. Which, considering Alan Arkin's otherwise fruitful career, would have probably been for the best.
2/10
First of all, the story is silly, naive, full of holes and outrageous plot devices and it generally feels as if it was written by a six year old after watching the first two Pink Panther films. I understand that this is supposed to be a comedy (and also that the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films are not IQ bending mysteries either), but I honestly can not believe that the writers thought the audience would buy this.
The acting in general is on a school play level, with a good actor such as Alan Arkin failing miserably somewhere in between the attempts to copy Peter Sellers and to develop a character on his own. The expression "wooden acting" applies here literally - Arkin's screen appearance seems as if he was in fact made of wood or forgot a coat hanger in his jacket, and although somewhat stiff motion was one of the signature traits of Sellers' Clouseau, it simply does not suit a ten years younger and much more physical Arkin here. However, Arkin does manage to extort a few chuckles here and there, but mostly so just by being laughably unconvincing in a role tailor-made for another actor.
All in all, it's a sad attempt at comedy, at if this film was made in its own right instead of being made part of a hugely successful and memorable series, it would have been completely forgotten by today. Which, considering Alan Arkin's otherwise fruitful career, would have probably been for the best.
2/10