I always wondered why Ponton (Jean Reno) even bothers trying to help Clouseau put two and two together on certain things regarding the case, and actually trying to assist Clouseau in helping solve it, when Dreyfuss gave him orders to simply watch over him, and report back what Clouseau does, while Dreyfuss tries to solve the case himself. I realized recently that Ponton probably is just taking the case seriously like he would any other, and his genuinely trying to assist Clouseau is his way of undermining Dreyfuss, whom he knows to be a jerk.
Also, there's the part where Ponton asks Clouseau, regarding their Chinese witness Yu, if he knows how to speak Chinese. Clouseau rants that of course he can speak Chinese. Turns out, he does know how to speak Chinese, but that's not the brilliance. The brilliance comes when you recall how he quotes people saying "Oh let's speak Chinese so Clouseau doesn't know what we're saying". How many times do you suppose he's heard them say that in Chinese before?
