trailer break: ‘The Pink Panther 2’

If there was any doubt that Hollywood thinks audiences are morons, surely it must be laid to rest by this trailer. If this is all the funniest stuff -- as, alas, trailers tend to focus on -- I can’t even begin to imagine the trial that the rest of the film will be. The first one, in 2006, was pretty damn near unbearable -- could this be even worse?

I despair of Steve Martin of late. It’s not like you can call “King Tut” or The Jerk or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Roxanne highbrow, but they had some wit and some charm and some... something that didn’t make you want to claw your eyes out and wonder if the collective IQ of the entire planet hasn’t dropped in the last ten years. I realize that Martin’s Shopgirl was way too esoteric for mainstream audiences, but have we really gotten this dumbed down? When did comedy come to be synonymous with moronic? Why are audiences so less demanding than they were only a decade ago?

There cannot be any question that we have gotten less demanding: the 2006 movie made almost $160 million worldwide. This one will likely do even better, if the general rule that sequels tend to outperform originals hold.

I’m gonna miss my press screening of this one while I’m traveling next week, and I’m not at all upset about that.

The Pink Panther 2 opens in the U.S. on February 6, and in the U.K. on February 13.