If you thought Pierce Brosnan could only play James Bond, you thought wrong.
No character could be further from the suave, debonair Agent 007 than Julian Noble, the sleazy, shameless hitman of The Matador.
Matador defies genre, and the film is so good, it's hard to believe it is writer/director Richard Shepard's first major project.
Like many wonderful films, there is no real predictable plot arc -- it's just an amazing ride. The whole movie is a showcase of three great talents: Brosnan, Greg Kinnear (Stuck On You), and the lesser-known Hope Davis (The Weather Man).
Kinnear plays Danny, a mediocre businessman who happens to strike up an unlikely friendship with Julian while in Mexico City. After bonding over a bullfight -- hence the title -- Julian reveals his true profession, and Danny is rightfully freaked out.
A year later, Julian turns up again, this time at Danny's house, wreaking havoc on his home and sweet, kind wife (Davis).
The plot may not sound like much, but the greatness of this film is in its random little vignettes, such as when Julian walks Danny step-by-step through an assassination attempt until the audience is squirming.
The classiest moment has to be Julian's walk through an upscale hotel lobby, clutching a beer and clad in only a black Speedo and cowboy boots, before jumping into the pool -- still clutching the beer.
The scene is random, useless and up there with the now-famous Napoleon Dynamite dance scene.
Matador is crammed with gimmicks, from unappealing sex scenes to an unexplainable use of Asia's "Heat of the Moment."
In the biggest gimmick, the story jumps from exotic location to exotic location. Each city's name is flashed in enormous, neon capital letters in a purposefully tacky move that lasts for a few seconds too long. Actually, all the stunts are cheesy, but they work.
Kinnear and Davis are a well-matched pair, and their reactions to Julian's insanity is priceless, yet they don't give in to smirking and mugging for laughs. But this is the Pierce Brosnan show, and underneath the potbelly, spiky gray 'do, grizzled chest hair and the smarmiest mustache ever, is an actor with undeniable range who deserves his moment. Grade: A
-- Reviewed by Kathryn Stevens
