After Baby Mama, I was ready to let Steve Martin back into my life. The man hasn’t made a good movie in a decade, but his role as a crystal-worshipping CEO made me laugh. A guy getting kicked in the nuts makes me laugh, too, but Baby Mama aside, Martin’s recent work has made me feel like it was my stones the boot was hitting. He’s become a practicioner of indirect comedy; you can’t laugh at his work, but you can cackle at those suffering through it.
The teaser trailer for The Pink Panther 2 ups the indirect comedy ante. YouTube should be flooded with reaction videos to this clip. You think you’ve stood the worst the internet has to offer? Well, Peter Sellers fans, step right up. See if you can stomach a minute and a half of this beetle gnawing at comedy’s corpse.
(And am I the only one for whom Martin’s demeanor is reminiscent of Julian Sands as as Yves Cloquet in Naked Lunch? Maybe it’s the ‘stache.)
Click here to watch the teaser, if you think you can stand it. The Pink Panther 2 opens February 19, 2009. You’ve got eight months to build immunity.