Teasing Pink…Ugh
My first response to the teaser trailer for The Pink Panther 2 was “What’s a French policeman doing lurking around the El Portal theater in North Hollywood?” and my second response was “Wait a minute, they’re making another one of these things?”
Then I looked the last one up at Box Office Mojo and found that it made $82 million from the “I just want to turn my brain off” crowd in the US and another $76.6 million from the “Je veux arrêter mon cerveau” crowd overseas.
Here’s the thing, I grew up loving the Pink Panther movies, and I worshipped Steve Martin in the late ’70s and early ’80s. There was a time in my life where the combination of the two might have sounded like an excellent idea, but then my brain finished forming. Now it sounds like torture, especially with Martin’s ridiculous accent. I know Peter Sellers’ accent was exaggerated, but it worked.
Who is lining up for this crap? Can we blame families, the same people who made a hit out of Alvin and the Chipmunks?
There’s a name for this kind of thing. It’s called Direct-to-Video. They’re cheap, they’re easy, you pop them in and keep the little bastards distracted for hours. The best part is there’s no need to clutter up the multiplex with it.
Filed under: Upcoming
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Families. I hate these guys.
Ahaha…
Seriously, though, it’s pretty disgusting how much Steve Martin has wasted his (fairly considerable) talent on such unmitigated crap. When you see some of his older films, and even some as late as the late ’90s, it’s even more sickening than it would be in any event.
I would rather DIE than see PP2
When I look at the current careers of Steve Martin and Robin Williams, I wonder if they were ever really as funny as I used to think.
On the other hand, you’ve got Bill Murray who seems to have left big budget comedy behind but is doing great work.
And then there’s Dan Ackroyd. Still waiting for the perfect script for Coneheads II, I guess.
Calling David Koepp. Maybe there’s a crystal skull under that cone! (I hereby bequeath that crossover concept, free of charge. FOC you, Koepp.)
Aykroyd is actually popping up in War, Inc. Looks like he thought it looked as much like a Grosse Point sequel as I did.
ha, Daniel. Same way Ackroyd thought Pearl Harbor was a reprise of his role in 1941.
Always jarring when he pops up in random dramas, not cracking a smile. He started messing with us in Driving Miss Daisy and Chaplin.
Maybe he only reads the titles of scripts before he signs on. House of Mirth, turns out not all that mirthful.
No, Robin Williams was never funny. He had quite a few people fooled for a long time, though.
“Maybe he only reads the titles of scripts before he signs on.”
To that point, Ryan, I remember reading Aykroyd say all he needed to know about The Curse of the Jade Scorpion was that Woody Allen was directing. Of course, he wasn’t the first case of an actor joining a film solely due to the director. Aykroyd’s straight man shtick has endured more than his contemporaries, both in terms of real-life progression of his roles and the aging of his older comedy.
Koepp’s already working on another Crystal Skull script. It’s about John McCain.
Yeah, this is just… WHY?
And, well, I’ve never found Robin Williams funny. Actually, in my mind, he is one of the MOST annoying public figures out there.
Steve Martin has a career as a respected New Yorker writer so he can feel okay to make all these shitty movies on the side.
Simply being a millionaire New Yorker would be enough to make me feel okay. I wish I could find thousands of middlebrow families to pay my Central Park West rent.
Quite frankly, I found the trailer to be very funny and surprisingly creative. The version playing in front of “Kung Fu Panda,” in which the marquee reads “Kung Fu Panda” and has Clouseau trying to buy a ticket to that film instead of a “ticket for one” is a little more funny just for the sheer novelty of it.
I doubt the movie will be any good, but they get kudos from me for the trailer.
Matthew, you seem to have inadvertently clicked on the wrong trailer.
The Pink Panther trailer fails to amuse me much because the basic premise is fatally fucked. It’s Clouseau who’s supposed to have the screwed up accent, right? Then how come everybody can understand his mangled language so perfectly? At the same time, he’s unable to comprehend the ticket booth girl who’s speaking as plainly as possible.
The affectation that Martin’s Clouseau has silly accent doesn’t explain or excuse the fact that he’s a moron. It’s just one annoyance on top of another. (It also appeals to the most bristly lowest common denominator in the audience — those who brandish their disdain for the French as proof that they’re good Americans).
Also, minor point, but is that really typical, for guys to bring in reels of film through the backstage door of a theater? Do a lot of theaters have backstage entrances behind the screen?
Peter Sellers’ Clouseau was a bungler, but his efforts to maintain decorum in the wake of his fumblings made the silliness funnier. Steve Martin’s Clouseau lacks any sort of pride or discretion or, you know, common sense.
Sellers’ Clouseau is to Martin’s Clouseau as Buster Keaton is to Jerry Lewis.
I agree though, Matthew, the fweekee peenk boss moonkee is veewee foonee and keenkee.
I’m not ready to lump Aykroyd in with Williams & Martin just yet. Sure, he hasn’t exactly been wowing anybody lately, but he also hasn’t been starring in god-awful straight money jobs either. The mere fact that he seems content being a supporting player these days automatically means he won’t be embarrassing himself on the same level as Martin and Williams. By the way, he really was quite good in Bright Young Things, a very underrated film.
Completely agree, alynch, and I’m glad you made the point I wished I had earlier today. And you’re right, he was very good in Bright Young Things, a rather underrated film.
Yeah, I’m with alynch, at least Aykroyd has mostly stayed out of the way. And he fit in Chaplin.
You know I really don’t have a problem with Williams in dramatic roles like Good Will Hunting or One Hour Photo, but yeah, I can see how his stand-up routine persona can be really grating.
Now that we’re rating middle-aged comedic stars, my vote goes for Bill Murray.
Ackroyd, a “good guy,” has benefited from his association with John Belushi — a distinction that has me puzzled to begin with.
Robin Williams is lucky that his manic behavior has been viewed so highly as talent. At least he means well.
And I still like Jerry Lewis despite what some people say (including our illustrious Ryan Adams). I guess his goofy persona turns some people off.
Aykroyd was great on SNL in my opinion, but he was usually best in small doses. He was terrific in Trading Places as essentially the straight man.