Plenty of ‘Panther’ jokes to mine in Steve Martin remake

Peter Sellers created and mastered the character of Inspector Clouseau in 1964. The bumbling French detective with the impossible accent provided many opportunities for sight gags and slapstick humor. In making seven “Pink Panther” films of varying quality, you would think Sellers had already strip-mined the comedy territory available in this repetitive series.

But credit Steve Martin with bringing new life to the clueless and incompetent inspector. Martin is known for his sharp verbal wit and broad physical comedy. Both qualities are given ample opportunity for expression in this effort. Martin manages to reinvent the bungling cop who can take a minor mistake and turn it into a disaster of epic proportions. Silly situations that are beyond ridiculous abound on screen.

It ain’t Shakespeare, but it sure can be funny.

You can see the telegraphed gags coming a mile away. They are so stupid yet so funny. You start laughing before the jokes fully arrive. The whole enterprise is a forgettable guilty pleasure.

But the large audience at my screening chuckled heartily throughout the movie and laughed out loud at least a couple of dozen times during the film’s snappy 90 minutes.

In today’s Hollywood, that’s major success for a comedy remake.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.

‘Mrs. Henderson Presents’: Girls! Girls! Girls!

The delightful “Mrs. Henderson Presents” has earned Judi Dench a best actress Oscar nomination this year for another memorable role.

Dench plays Laura Henderson, a wealthy, upper-class British matron who loses her husband in 1937. On the day of his funeral, she declares she is already bored with widowhood. Though other women might spend their time buying hats or jewelry, she buys the old Windmill Theater in London’s West End and hires the rather crude Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to turn it into an innovative music hall.

Mrs. Henderson is not a woman to remain on the sidelines, so when business starts to sag, she comes up with the idea of having a nude revue like the ones in Paris.

“Britain doesn’t do naked,” Van Damm sputters.

Nevertheless, she charms Lord Cromer (the great Christopher Guest) into granting the permit, on the condition the disrobed ladies remain as still as statues onstage. This, they decided, maintains the concept as art, and it would therefore not be considered vulgar. The show soon becomes a big hit.

The movie is filled with playfully old-fashioned musical numbers and gorgeous period costumes by Sandy Powell (also an Oscar nominee) that charm the ear and eye. The nudity is more tasteful than any present-day Las Vegas revue.

The love-hate relationship between Henderson and Van Damm is lively and the actors have great chemistry. The movie is never dull when either of them is on screen.

The Windmill Theater revues really did exist, and it was one of the last theaters to remain open in London during the bombings of World War II. Loosely based on Van Damm’s memoirs and under the classy direction of Stephen Frears, “Mrs. Henderson Presents” makes the still-lovely Dench a dame worth watching.

* SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.

20060217h1l6ugke(LA)20060217h1846tke(LA)20060217iuszmlnc(LA)Steve Martin stars in a remake of “The Pink Panther.”