Movie Log: The Matador

Somehow, when I wasn't paying attention, Greg Kinnear became one of our better actors. (I know -- who'da thunk it?) I realized it after watching Little Miss Sunshine last month and now The Matador.

This movie was billed as "Brosnan tries to move beyond James Bond," and I remember some critics talking about how daring he was to be so ugly in this movie. Now, Brosnan does have a mustache, but he's still in good shape (as we see when he walks through a hotel lobby in a small bathing suit and boots), and the mustache isn't that bad, anyway. So if this is "ugly," I can only hope someday I can get to look that good.

The movie itself is more oddball indy buddy comedy (two guys meet cute, and help each other out) than the high-action thriller that very misleading cover off to the left would make you expect. There's very little action in The Matador, and the R rating apparently has nothing to do with violence. (Is that a first for a movie about a hit man?)

So this is a black comedy (in case I have to spell that out -- I though perhaps "comedy" plus "hit man" would pretty obviously not equal "warm and cuddly"), though it's the kind of black comedy in which the blackness is generally outward-directed, not back towards the main characters. It's a funny movie, with great dialogue, and two enjoyable performances from Brosnan and Kinnear. But you have to be able to take hit men who look like Pierce Brosnan in a mustache.