At a massive football game of France vs China, Yves Gluant, coach of France's team, is murdered in front of everyone with the pink panther diamond Yves was wearing now missing. Chief Inspector Dreyfus jumps to the case, hoping to boost his dwindling image. Dreyfus comes to an idea of hiring a incompetent policeman to keep the medias attention of him; that policeman, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Clouseau is teamed up with Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, to keep tabs on Cloaseau for Dreyfus, and his secretary Nicole, with sparks about to fly between them. Main suspect for the murder is Xania, Yves girlfriend and massive pop star singer.

As with any of the Pink Panther film, no matter where Clouseau goes, havoc is bound to follow, in true over the top fashion. The formula for this incompetent idiot worked in the first Pink Panther, much to the help of Peter Sellers flare for slap stick. The jokes are running so thin, there isn't a joke you've seen before, they're wearing out their welcome extremely thin.

One question that needs asking is why did Steve Martin decided to make this film; acting Clouseau and also responsible for half the writing credits. The bad part for Martin, he doesn't really interpret the character of Clouseau for himself, ending with a stiff and very badly accented character. With the success of previous films; Cheaper by the Dozen, Just Married and Big Fat Liar, director Shawn Levy was hoping history would repeat itself, but has ran out of luck on this film.

Wasted talent. That's all that can be said. When you can boast a cast holding Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno and to a less extent Beyoncé Knowles, how can they get away with such dull and lack luster performances. They all just fumble around the place, which is disappointing from Kevin Kline, who is a great comedic actor. Jean Reno, also a great actor, looked so bored and tired.

The Pink Panther should have been left alone when the idea first came up to make this film. They should just leave some things left in the past.

This film is not as bad as Son of the Pink Panther, Trail of the Pink Panther or its own sequel even, but it is a pretty poor movie in my opinion. The music is great though, the title sequence is very entertaining and Emily Mortimer and Jean Reno are good in their roles. However, the story screams of predictability and is rushed, the gags are poorly timed mostly, the humour is often too in-your-face and lacked subtlety and the script is very weak. I liked the locations, but found the editing and direction sloppy. There is a difference in giving a good performance and trying too hard, unfortunately although I do like Steve Martin his over-eager but ridiculous performance belongs in the latter category. Kevin Kline is another good actor, but is saddled with poor dialogue and a lack of chemistry between Martin, while Beyonce is glamorous and sexy but limited as an actress. Overall, could have been worse but not really recommended. 4/10 Bethany Cox

THE PINK PANTHER is the ill-advised 2006 reboot of the Peter Sellers franchise with Steve Martin essaying the classic role. Sadly, it turns out to be a witless wonder, substituting witty humour for pure dumb nonsensical stuff throughout. There's slapstick too, but it feels overblown and overdone here, just not as funny as in the original films. Martin himself feels like a big part of the problem, playing the role as an unlikeable prig with no warmth at all, although others like Jean Reno are better. But the main culprit is the script, which packs in all of the Hollywood nonsense like fart jokes, sexist gags and random foreign villains to no good effect. I've also learnt by experience to never trust a film with a singer in a leading role.