Panther screenings scrapped

It was supposed to be the blockbuster movie of the spring, starring the A-list trio of Steve Martin, Kevin Kline and Beyoncé Knowles and inspired by one of the greatest comedies of all time.

But The Pink Panther, a remake of the classic 1964 film that starred Peter Sellers, has suffered the worst reviews of the year so far after being screened in the US and to a handful of UK film magazines.

Now, after brickbats such as the New York Daily News's description of the film as "92 minutes of awkward pratfalls, witless sight gags and embarrassingly bad attempts at matching Sellers's mangled syntax", its makers appear to have banned other British critics from seeing it.

The Pink Panther was due to be previewed by the Society of Film Distributors, which hosts screenings for newspaper writers. But today it emerged that 20th Century Fox has pulled it from the schedule - without an explanation.

The film, which also stars British actress Emily Mortimer, has been almost unanimously panned by those who have seen it.

The Hollywood Reporter's critic said: "Too many of the gags fall flat on their face long before the inspector does and the entire pace feels like it's on some sort of threesecond delay."

Of the handful of British critics who have seen it, Empire magazine's reviewer described director Shawn Levy's effort as "a pummelling of one-note slapstick gags".

A Fox spokesman confirmed the film would not have any national screenings in Britain but refused to comment further.