Sunday, July 02, 2006

You Can't Go Back

Nothing so dramatic as that statement.
Yet I'm not talking about anything serious or profound, at least as far as I'm concerned.

You can't go back and revisit your past because the person you were then- when whatever happened, happened - isn't who you are now and how you viewed, reacted or felt at that time, does not translate to your present.

I wish movie "geniuses" [said tongue in cheek] would remember that fact.

I refer to a movie that I really, really wanted to see in the theaters. I was so excited about this remake.
I thought the main actor would do it justice. The TV commercials had me chuckling in gleeful anticipation.
What happened?
I ended up missing the entire run - never finding the time or anyone to go with.
So I waited patiently for the DVD release.

Oh, am I glad I did. On two levels.
Glad that I never saw it in theaters.
Glad I never paid full price for a feeling that I know would have had me gritting my teeth in high annoyance.

Disgust.

The Pink Panther with Steve Martin And Kevin Kline.



H.A.T.E.D. I.T.

OK, so I'm going to rant.
I think you guessed from my first paragraph that I wasn't happy.

After ruminating on it after 24 hours of seeing the movie, I feel the same way. It WAS as bad as I thought.

I can count on one hand how many times I laughed viewing the film, all of which occurred in the first 30 minutes. After that , it was forced, contrived, choppy and unimaginative. The foils depended too much on pop culture reference and not enough character eccentricities. The viewer does not connect with Inspector Clouseau at all. He was a cookie cutter, two dimensional, lifeless depiction of a role that Peter Sellers had breathed life into with wit, cunning slapstick and cuttingly humorous humanity.
You can't recapture or recreate that success.
They tried. I'll give them that. Perhaps TOO hard.

I personally know five people who raved about this movie. Said it was the funniest they'd seen in a while and really talked it up so much that I felt safe in watching it. I should have realized that all the people who bragged about this film, had never seen the original Peter Seller's version.
I would love to hear from those who HAVE seen the originals and have seen the remake.

I would love to hear their opinions.

If they felt this new remake worked, why??

Because I am clueless as to its appeal.


My most hated part of the new Pink Panther?
That blasted , stupid and irritating "Hamburger" scene.

Someone put this movie out of its misery...ARGH!!

2 comments:

Brandy said...

We didn't go see it either. I was waiting for it to come to DVD. I might just keep waiting.

Michele said...

If you can get it from your library, then the price is right.
Your kids may think it is hysterical, but the reference to Viagra will go over their heads, hopefully....

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