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	The Matador
	Richard Shepard Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Philip Baker Hall, Adam Scott, Dylan Baker 2005		Pierce Brosnan turns the tables on his suave superspy image in a mordantly funny, off-kilter mix of comedy, thriller and character study. (Let's just say that Brosnan as James Bond never painted his toenails purple.) Down in Mexico City, loony globetrotting hit man Julian Noble (Brosnan) embroils innocent, blandly harmless salesman Danny Wright — played by Greg Kinnear — in reckless intrigue. Noble is anything but noble; and, despite a reputation for efficiency, he's starting to screw up. When he meets Danny in a hotel bar, Julian has just finished off an assignment, but is bored, lonely and looking for companionship. Danny is hoping that the pitch for his latest project will impress his prospective Mexican clients and bring wealth and security to his family. The encounter between the two men leads in unexpected directions. And that's just for starters. Some years later, a desperate Julian travels to Denver and startles Danny and his loving, loyal wife Bean at their cozy suburban home, ratcheting up the craziness. Brosnan is obviously having a ball as the dangerous, amoral, unashamedly egocentric Julian, and Kinnear's Danny is an ideal foil for this complex wack-job. Hope Davis brings warmth, vulnerability and playfulness to the role of Bean. And veteran actors Philip Baker Hall and Dylan Baker are on the mark as two of Julian's calculating colleagues-in-espionage. Writer/director Richard Shepard imbeds enough twists into his script to keep an audience as off-balance as Danny is after he first meets Julian.


	Sunday, November 17, 2024





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