SON OF THE PINK PANTHER (1993) **1/2 Replace Inspector Clousseau? Impossible obviously, but Roberto Benigni is not only a genius, and not only a genius who has done his homework, and not only a genius who has done his homework and worships the subject matter...but also a very short and silly man emanating innocence and humanity. Purists and critics howled disapproval but this only makes me certain that in the Clousseauian cosmology they are themselves aligned with Inspector Dreyfus, for there can be no doubt that Benigni rides with Clousseau. Blake Edwards makes sure that the lines snap and the scenes don't stretch...Benigni visiting his father's grave is a nearly perfect example of the genre, in fact great scenes abound...Benigni is not Clousseau proper, of course, but the result of an offscreen pairing between Sellers and Claudia Cardinale (non-virgins take notes, you may someday have to explain such things to your husband[s]). Herbert Lom comes to terms with it all as he romances Cardinale, and Burt Kwouk benefits (?) from the most outrageous disguise of the entire series. It's a work of love, and a demand to go out on the up beat, as notable for its absences as its intense presence: Peter Sellers is gone, of course, and Nicoletta Braschi only appears to give Lom the final unintentional kick in the head. Will Benigni get the princess Debrah Farentino? Why would anyone want a princess when there are girls like Nicoletta out there?
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