Last long weekend was spent chilling out and catching up with some movie watching.
Picked out Pink Panther 2 hoping for some light-hearted laughs. I had read some pretty bad reviews of this movie, but I went ahead with it anyway, as I was really curious to see Aishwarya Rai in at least one Hollywood production.
She had received some terrible reviews for this performance, and although she does ham occasionally, she is not too bad an actress at all (barring her first few Hindi movies). So, having all these thoughts in mind, I ventured to watch the movie.
Here is a brief synopsis
Steve Martin is the bumbling French Inspector Clouseau. He, along with a bunch of international detectives and some sidekicks – Alfred Molina, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Yuki Matsuzaki, Lily Tomlin, and Aishwarya Rai attempt to track down Le Tornado who has stolen some great cultural treasures of Europe including the Pink Panther diamond.
My Review
With such an awesome cast, it was quite surprising to see how unfunny the movie was. All the actors ham unbearably, and the witty repartee between them is just too painful to watch. The physical comedy is slightly better with Steve Martin pulling cheap laughs by dangling from the Pope’s balcony, burning down a restaurant (twice!) and so on.
But really, just not enough comedy to sustain the movie. The story and the comic moments are extremely predictable.
Now on to Aishwarya Rai’s performace
She is definitely not funny in this movie, but neither is anybody else. She is also badly miscast; she is a good dramatic actress, but really not suited for comedy. In a few mainstream newspaper movie reviews, I read that she had a “blink and you miss” role. So, I was quite surprised to see that she is present throughout the movie, and does have a decent-sized role if you consider the presence of so many heavyweight Hollywood stars in this movie. Makes me wonder, whether our so-called media folks actually see the movie fully before rushing to review it!
What I liked best about the movie were the beautiful shots of Paris in the spring (I think!). Lovely, lovely…had me dreaming of the Pompidou, Notre Dame, shopping and yummy hot chocolates, and cakes!
Sigh…now back to mundane Bangalore traffic jams, pollution, and chores 🙁
This movie was a big flop! This dint even make a slightest of noise during its release. Getting featured in the hollywood movies is not the only thing A Rai should look. There was this another movie “The Mistress of Spices” which was again a dud one.
Well, may be the movie did not have much in store for her!!
But what is important is, she HAS talent, she is a good actress, very graceful dancer, believes in family values and respecting parents, speaks impeccable English and blah blah blah…
Unfortunately, most people don’t look beyond her ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ looks..!!! That is sad!!
May be I’m biased towards Ash ’cause I’m a huugee fan of hers!! Can’t help it, you see!!
Anyways, good review, nice blog, looking forward to more reviews of Ash’s films from ya!!
take care, God Bless!!
Yes, I can see you are a big A Rai fan. Definitely, whenever I see her movies, I will review them here.
And thanks for visiting 🙂
Aishwarya Rai was awesome in the film!!!!!
Nobody would have done that role better, I mean, the role suits Ash the best!!
When you are accusing Ash of not succeeding in comedy, you must remember that there were no comedy lines for Ash which would result in humor…
I completely stand by Ash saying that she is underrated, especially by the Indian media!!
They reviewed the film and Ash’s performance based on the trailer!! Now, how gross is that??
We must remember that the film is after all a Steve Martin vehicle and I felt the supporting cast did a great job, including Ash!!
And, as a matter of fact, we must acknowledge Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for standing out in a crowd of established and great Hollywood actors, She did a job as good as anybody else in the film!!
Ash was fantastic!! I thoroughly enjoyed the film!! Ciao!
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Like I said in my post, she is not a bad actress, but she is at her best in dramatic roles. While she was not bad in this movie, it was not a chance for her to shine and show her talents.