I watched this movie on video just a week before it hit the theaters here. How stupid is that. Esp. stupid as it turns out that this is by far the most entertaining movie I’ve seen ALL YEAR !!
The Matador lay on the video store shelf for quite a while, ignored by me, as I picked up other ’serious’ movies. One day, it seemed like I had seen everything that was there to see. This is the lowest point of your average life, dont you think ? I mean, nothing can quite make you feel so depressed. The universe seems to be hanging on your shoulders like an obese backpack. And you realize - I’ve seen everything except odd episodes of Sex and the City, and Starship Troopers.
Out of all choices, I picked up this video, and looked at the cover. I have no idea why I thought its about a matador before. This is what the cover blurb says ... "A Hitman and a Salesman walk into the bar..." . Starring Pierce Brosnan in one of his "best performances ever", and Greg Kinnear in a supporting role. So far, so good.
reaction to the movie - WOW !!
Let me list the highlights.
Right off the bat, Brosnan’s wisecracks throughout the movie have just a hint of naughty-naughty, a pinch of sleaze, that make them delicious. I tried laying back on the sofa in my usual floppy style of video-watching, but I kept bounding up snorking with delight every time one of those lines came on. I won’t quote - why spoil the effect for you.
Then you have the character of Brosnan himself. He’s the most jaded, been-there-done-that-twice persona seen on screen in IMHO too long a time. Very juicy refreshing anti-hero role, and I’m sooo sick of gooey smarmy heroic characters right now, I was rooting for him.
Brosnan’s jarring lifestyle -lies, booze, orgies & cheap hookers, murder before breakfast for the right sum.The thing that gives the guy a real edgy feel is that bisexual charge he throws off here. A heterosexual man’s nightmare (:-D) - a trashy, brashy swinger who’d beat you at anything you wanna try, and enjoys the things that just scare you. And enjoys scaring you. Here’s one more of that stable of characters who specialize in making you uncomfortable, after Cable-Boy Carrey cringy-ness, and Brad-Pitt-style twitchy psychotics. You, the audience, feel what Greg Kinnear feels - dominated, fascinated, and very nervous as Brosnan alternately plays nice or shocking in unpredictable twists.
Well, mostly unpredictable. A couple plot twists you can guess. But credit Brosnan for playing such an ambiguous part that you don’t really know for sure what this guy is all about. Is he really trying to be a friend? Is he just trying to use you? Does he want your wife? Does he want you? Do you want him to want you ? Can you believe anything he says ?
Greg Kinnear is the perfect foil. He is wholesome, middle-class, liberal, trying to play fair and honest even in a difficult situation. A very comic affair - he slips and slides between hanging on to his morals, and wanting to live in Brosnan’s slippers (with round-eyed admiration). Kinnear is a natural for this role, after I saw him in As Good As It Gets. Looks like he’s getting typecast as the sensitive-Johnny im-bashed-up-but-i-have-a-soul stuff.
Kinnear’s wife character felt somewhat superfluous to the plot. Maybe just to bring some shades of Cable Boy here- psycho befriending your wife, your wife intriguid and unsuspecting. Nope, it doesnt go where you think it will.
Next, the comedy - One source is two men from different worlds who accidentally meet, with all the comic misunderstandings and wordplay. Kinnear is trying to guess half the time, if Brosnan plans to kill him, or violate him, or both.
And then you have the hitman sob story -the director trying tongue-in-cheek to outline the sad life of a hitman past his prime. Kinda like Donald Trump telling you about the pressures of his job, what a dog’s life it is..Oh, we in the audience, we surely sympathise :) Poor little hitmen - The high living and the money, the job pressure, the rivals, the inevitable burnout, the boozing, the falling apart on the job. And what about life after burnout? Do they get a quiet life on Palm Beach with medical benefits, and a golf membership? Not a hope.