see this at the first chance you get.

the box and I didn't know what the plot was. Super! After about 20 minutes I wondered, "What's this movie about?" These 2 guys were never in the same scene and they just wandered about almost aimlessly. Of course, eventually, they meet, and it's obviously some type of "buddy movie." The story felt as though it just meandered about. There was no speed to it, no rush, no pressure to get anywhere. But Brosnan's character was a blast to watch. Just relaxing and funny all the way! In the last 30 minutes a story surprisingly developed and gave the movie meaning. And it didn't even need that, but it was a nice bonus.I'm not sure how ladies will like this. It feels like a guy-flick all the way through. Not over-the-top stupid violence or anything. Just guys being guys, talking guy talk. But the characters are very human and likable.This is the BEST movie in the last few years I had never heard of! Glad I gambled on it!

truly gratifying. You give good actors good work to play with and they give us something more back.

no permanent home and no planned future, he stumbles into a Mexican hotel bar one night and runs into Danny Wright Kinnear .Danny is a down-on-his-luck family man who is on the verge of losing the big business deal that just might turn things around for him. He loves his wife dearly, especially so since they lost their young son a few years earlier.The two men are chalk and cheese, hardly any common ground other than that they are in the same desolate bar one night. And somehow a conversation is struck that sets in to motion a chain of events that will change their lives forever.The friendship they form reminded me a lot of Laurel and Hardy. One is the straight man and the other is the persistent fool who gets them into trouble. The interplay is superbly timed and finely tuned, due in no small part to the wonderful performances from Brosnan and Kinnear.But make no mistake... This is Brosnan's film. He imprints one of the most memorable and despicably likable characters of the decade. He could shoot your mother and apologize immediately thereafter and you'd probably forgive him. Brosnan may be cinema's ultimate charmer, but this is his most endearing and complete performance to date. I wouldn't be averse to seeing an Oscar nod for this role.Consider one scene where he overtly ogles a high-school girl with the impurest of thoughts and utters the line, "All blushy blushy... No sucky fucky". He does it with the familiar Bond smirk and manages to get away with it. He manages to tell a young boy, "Tell your mother to lose 30lbs and 20 years. Then get back to me" without coming across as unlikable. In fact, it makes us like him even more.And yet the film manages to surprise us with some truly touching scenes, most of which come toward the end when the film takes some unpredictable turns. However, when Julian thumbs through his little black book to find someone to call on his birthday, or when Danny and his wife Davis console each other in their bedroom one night, the film reaches an unexpected depth of emotion."The Matador" is stylish and energetic. It is constantly entertaining. And it contains a career-defining role for Brosnan as the lonely hit-man looking for normalcy, friendship and a means to do at least one good thing in his life. This is an overlooked gem in 2005 and you should make an effort to see this film as soon as possible.TC Candler of IndependentCritics.com

demonstrates at a bullfight. Noble is eventually targeted by his employers and shows up in Denver. Writer and director Richard Shepard did the Q&A after this delightful movie at the Austin Film Festival. Shepard was also down on his luck. After suffering the loss of his agent and rejection of recent scripts, he decided to write a story no one would buy and create a character no one would want to play. Then Pierce Brosnan called. Brosnan regains his equilibrium in this movie. There is life after Bond! He has a wonderful flair for self-deprecating comedy. Don't miss it. Stay for the closing credits to read what the filmmakers say about bullfighting. I look forward to more of Richard Shepard's projects.

else you might deem politically incorrect. Brosnan takes an excellent script to another level with his marvelous facial gestures and physical movements. Even sitting on a hotel bed with or without a sombrero is a joy to behold.Greg Kinnear is the straight guy to Brosnan's comic and has plenty of depth and comic timing to make this partnership click. Hope Davis has a small, but subtly effective supporting role as Kinnear's wife what's with her name "Bean"? who happens to get a little excited when she has a facilitator in her living room.The visuals and settings are perfect - including a bullfight, racetrack and Denver suburb. And how often do we get The Killers and Xavier Cugat on the same soundtrack? This one is definitely not for everyone, but if your sense of humor is a bit off center and you enjoy risky film-making, it could be for you.

breath-of-fresh-air into the 'buddy comedy' formula skewering what is anticipated of his leads and allowing Brosnan to get his ya-yas out with devilish glee. A sleeper gem indie hit.

guy. 2 that guy who's personal dynamics are as cartoonish as that of the world he's from. The world isn't comic but he is. 3 we have the designated watcher Kinnear from our world implanted in the movie world, using ordinary Hitchcockian noir dynamics. We sometimes have his wife as well, goggle-eyed with pleased amusement at the fun of it.We of course are meant to be folded into the thing by equating us as watcher with the embedded watcher. It works.Its a simple construction, but very, very effective, all of which is a long way of explaining why you'll laugh yourself silly.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.