Main Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Philip Baker Hall, Adam Scott
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A chance meeting between two middle-aged men leads one into a life of crime in this offbeat comedy. Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) is an American businessman whose life has been going through a sour patch after he and his wife, Carolyn (Hope Davis), lost their young son. During a business trip to Mexico City, Danny strikes up a conversation in a hotel bar with fellow out-of-towner Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan), and while Julian's loud and brassy manner initially puts Danny off, in time the two become friends, and Julian feels comfortable enough with Danny to tell him what he does for a living. It seems Julian is a hired killer working under the auspices of underworld kingpins Lovell (Dylan Baker) and Mr. Randy (Philip Baker Hall), and Julian tries to persuade Danny to help him with his latest assignment. Danny refuses, but a few months later a distraught Julian appears unannounced on Danny's doorstep. It seems Julian has blown his two most recent assignments due to a variety of psychosomatic illnesses, and now Lovell and Mr. Randy want him dead. Julian has also done something to put Danny in his debt, and the previously non-criminal businessman is forced to help his friend stage a hit, with Julian's presence in his home upsetting the precarious balance of Danny and Carolyn's marriage. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Richard Shepard's The Matador got a raw deal when it was released on DVD. In an apparent attempt to goose rentals by seducing the James Bond fans walking the aisles at Blockbuster, the Weinstein Company changed the movie's poster art from the sublime greens and oranges of the theatrical original to the dumbed-down, iconic images of an actioner: flames, voluptuous women, and guys in sunglasses with guns. By doing that, they probably alienated the true audience for this smart little indie that happens to involve a hitman -- which Pierce Brosnan undoubtedly considered a total departure from Bond. The Matador is the story of the unlikely relationship that develops between two men on two very different business trips to Mexico, and it plays out in three distinct settings, all more or less devoid of action. That, of course, is a good thing. The hitman losing his touch is an old cinematic device by now, but Brosnan and Shepard give it invigorating new life here. Brosnan's Julian Noble is an erratic delight -- fascinatingly, this is the most unsettling and the most funny the actor has ever been, both in the same movie. Greg Kinnear is more than equal to the task of navigating this enigma, with varying degrees of willingness, while also juggling his own share of personal and professional stumbling blocks. Hope Davis also shines as the film's only other major character, especially during a starling Christmas Eve visit by Julian, which leaves her uncertain whether to be charmed or chilled. The heart of Shepard's movie is a core of long, intimate conversations between the characters in which relationship politics are an uneasy constant, pregnant with danger. Yet true bonds emerge between them under circumstances that feel both exotic and commonplace. Here's hoping the action fans were unexpectedly nourished by it. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Martha del Rio - Art Director, Marcelo Del Rio - Art Director, Amanda J. Scarano - Associate Producer, Susanne Bohnet - Associate Producer, Carla Hool - Casting, Brad Jenkel - Co-producer, Gerd Koechlin - Co-producer, Manfred Heid - Co-producer, Catherine Marie Thomas - Costume Designer, Richard L. Fox - First Assistant Director, Richard Shepard - Director, Carole Kravetz-Aykanian - Editor, Mark Gordon - Executive Producer, Bob Yari - Executive Producer, Adam Merims - Executive Producer, Andy Reimer - Executive Producer, Josef Lautenschlager - Executive Producer, Andreas Thiesmeyer - Executive Producer, Rolfe Kent - Composer (Music Score), Rob Pearson - Production Designer, David Tattersall - Cinematographer, Pierce Brosnan - Producer, Beau St. Clair - Producer, Sean Furst - Producer, Bryan Furst - Producer, Santiago Núñez Rojo - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Shepard - Screenwriter, Patrice Laure - Set Decorator, Carlos Gutierrez - Set Decorator
An encounter in the bar of the Mexico City branch of the Camino Real Hotels, between tired businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), hoping to land a life-saving contract in Mexico, and jaded, falling-apart-at-the-seams assassin Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan), leads both men into an awkward friendship. Noble is confronting the immorality of his profession and experiencing a mid-life crisis that causes him to freeze on a job. His bosses want him dead, so Julian flees and visits Danny at his home at Christmas, looking for a place to stay. That night, he shares the real reason for his visit: he needs help with one last job. His last target happens to be his old boss. After much internal struggle and with Danny talking him through it, Noble assassinates his old boss at a Tucson horse race track.
Critical reaction
Having been screened at the Sundance, Toronto, and Chicago Internationalfilm festivals prior to its release, the film was generally well received by critics. Early professional reviews praised Pierce Brosnan's performance, as well as the film's unique and provocative premise and themes. [1]
Pierce Brosnan was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical Film at the Golden Globes in 2006. However, he lost to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line.
Although Julian travels to Vienna, Las Vegas, Moscow, Sydney, Budapest, Tucson and Manila, the film was shot entirely in Mexico City. According to the credits following the film, all bullfights were created using computer generated images. Actress Hope Davis was pregnant during the filming of the movie.
During the commentary for the first deleted scene on the DVD, director Richard Shephard states that the first cut of the film was 2 hours and 10 minutes and was cut down to its current length of 1 hour and 37 minutes.
