Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Tom Skerritt called ... he wants his look back: "The Matador"

Thanks to My Lovely Wife for planting the seed for this post title. We were almost through "The Matador" when she called out Pierce Brosnan with his little mustache and spiky, graying hair. Nice work, honey.

That aside, this was a fun movie. Not sure if you saw Brosnan's Golden Globe nomination, but just the premise of "The Matador" was enough to intrigue me. Pierce plays a weary hit man who meets a traveling salesman (Greg Kinnear) in a Mexico City bar. They become sort-of friends, first with Kinnear learning about Brosnan's seedy life, then with Brosnan needing Kinnear's help. All the while, Brosnan drops crude one-liners that you definitely wouldn't hear coming out of James Bond's mouth.

This isn't the first time Brosnan ("Nomads") put a different spin on his spy persona. Not many people saw it, but "The Tailor of Panama" had a pretty entertaining performance as a corrupt British agent. He's even more vulgar here, and harder to take seriously with the mustache and gigolo wardrobe. Kinnear ("Mystery Men") is a good match, given his average joe squareness. No question he has a normal life, which makes it perfectly understandable why he would be curious about Brosnan's.

If there's a problem, it's probably the uneven tone. The movie comes off as a comedy overall, but we're asked at times to be sympathetic to both Brosnan and Kinnear. I guess that makes for more well-rounded characters, but given the out-there premise in the first place, I'm not sure it totally works to have us feel sorry for the lonely hitman or struggling salesman.

Fortunately, the two leads were generally winning enough to keep me interested, and the story moves quickly for the most part. We also get some great music, and, like I said, crude lines from Brosnan. Then again, who among us hasn't looked "like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning, after the navy's left town?"

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