An unecessaary remake of the Peter Sellers' classic, this time with Steve Martin as the bumbling inspector. First let me say that if graded on its own, if this would have been the first version of such a film then the other Panther films would never have been made. Comedic at times but in a mediocre sort of way, several of the bits of bumbling were forced and manufactured. Indeed, if you've seen the trailer then you have seen absolutely all of the funny parts and a fair sampling of the plot.

Steve Martin displays enough of the old Sellers' moves to prove he's a fan but still seems like he's more in a SNL skit version instead of the real thing. Whereas Petter Sellars' inspector honestly bumbled his eway through, this version is part bumbling and part "gee, what a nice coincidence that all that just happens to be lined up right". The pacing and timing of Martin is also not exactly there, nor is the editing at times (the "hamburger" bit goes on for about 5 minutes). There is also one other somewhat major differ3nce. In the Sellers' version, the inspector doesn't actually solve a case so much as stumble into the solution and take credit for improbable circumstance. Here, the last minute twist is that the inspector actually has a brain; he can speak Chinese and solves the case by carefully observing some inoculous background details, as well as by quoting details of other nations' obscure law enforcement regulations. That isn't what the inspector does, that's just another cop movie in the end. The Inspector should have accidentally tripped over the killer not reasoned anything out.

On the whole, I dond't think that Peter Sellers jhas anythingm to worry about. You want a good Pink Panther movie? Rent one of the originals. There's reasons why they're classics.