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Movie Overview
Cast
• Pierce Brosnan
• Greg Kinnear
• Hope Davis
Director
• Richard Shepard
• Bob Yari
MPAA Rating
R - for strong sexual content and language
The Matador (2005)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 80% Fresh
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"Although Brosnan is terrific, the rest of this dark comedy fails to reach the level of his tour-de-force performance."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  Betty Jo Tucker

B-
"insubstantial, but fun"  AboutFilm.com  Carlo Cavagna

2.5/4
"Brosnan and Kinnear are a bullish odd couple."  rec.arts.movies.reviews  David N. Butterworth

3/4
"...moves at a brisk pace and features a pair of exceedingly enjoyable performances..."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

C+
"Thrives on its sleazeball hero being so colorful that you forget its thin, vacuous, amoral and improbable hit man story."  Ozus' World Movie Reviews  Dennis Schwartz

3/4
"An effective, wise, and frequently amusing entertainment that fondly sticks in the viewer's memory after the end credits have finished rolling."  DustinPutman.com  Dustin Putman

B+
"Brosnan's performance as a once-smooth hitman who has lost his mojo is as funny and as fearlessly absurd as anything he's ever done."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

3/4
"Like the down-and-out version of his Tailor of Panama character, Brosnan’s performance here is a sincere treasure; possibly the most entertaining of his career."  eFilmCritic.com  Erik Childress

B-
"May not manage a clean cinematic thrust, but Brosnan puts on a fine, flamboyant show to keep the crowd entertained."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

2/5
"Explores the friendship between a hit man and a suburban businessman that strains belief and leads to a totally improbable finale."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

3/4
"The movie has a nicely modulated mix of comedy and pathos, but succeeds as much because of the two lead performances as Richard Shepard's writing and directing."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

3/4
"Casting Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets) to play the straight man to Brosnan's wacked-out whack-man was a stroke of genius."  Reel.com  James Plath

3/4
"Brosnan's sleazy, broken-spirited hitman Julian Noble nabs the spotlight in Richard Shepard's generally pleasing comic thriller"  Perihelion Journal  Jay Antani

3/4
"A refreshingly tetchy indie wrapped in mainstream clothing."  Palo Alto Weekly  Jeanne Aufmuth

4/5
"Demands to be loved in spite of itself and refuses to sugar-coat its characters for its audience. And that'll make it a love it or leave it film; there'll be no sitting on the fence after seeing this."  FilmFocus  Joe Utichi

3.5/5
"in an ideal world, The Matador would be the movie to watch on a late Friday afternoon to start relaxing for the weekend"  Movies for the Masses  Joseph Proimakis

4.5/5
"It's quirky (everyone says so, but it's absolutely accurate) and chock full of real live heart and truth and human connection."  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

B-
"...plays a little classier, a little more hip than it otherwise might have due to Pierce Brosnan's rascally embracement of poking holes in his own image..."  Reeling Reviews  Laura Clifford

2.5/4
"A breezy entertainment -- perhaps too much so."  Mark Reviews Movies  Mark Dujsik

6/10
"This film is not so much a thriller as a comedy of bad manners. Action is kept to a minimum, but the conversation is what is interesting."  rec.arts.movies.reviews  Mark R. Leeper

2.5/4
"Brosnan walks the line between sympathy and repulsion as a cartoony lonely assassin"  Movie Habit  Marty Mapes

2.5/4
"As exceptional as [Brosnan and Kinnear] are... writer-director Richard Shepard's film is ultimately the formula buddy picture that one would expect from the premise."  TheMovieReport.com  Michael Dequina

1/4
"A painful morass of Odd Couple bickering and Elmore Leonard-style criminal kookiness."  Slant Magazine  Nick Schager

3/5
"Pierce Brosnan oferece, aqui, um dos melhores desempenhos de sua carreira."  Cinema em Cena  Pablo Villaca

3/5
"Slightly more engaging than most, even when the plot starts to stretch rather thin in the final act"  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

4/5
"Brosnan's work as a monster who'd like to become human, but has no idea how, is painfully funny."  eFilmCritic.com  Rob Gonsalves

B+
"As January settles in to its usual mix of unspeakable turds and gravitas-laden Oscar contenders, a sucker punch like this is just what the doctor ordered."  Flipside Movie Emporium  Rob Vaux

B
"A strangely funny dark comedy with Hitchcockian overtones."  Laramie Movie Scope  Robert Roten

B-
"A hit man/buddy flick that has a heart? Not something I was expecting with this likable assassin-lite comedy that is both entertaining and darkly funny."  Reeling Reviews  Robin Clifford

4/5
"Brosnan and Kinnear deliver one of the most satisfying "guy movie" duos since De Niro and Grodin paired up for Midnight Run."  eFilmCritic.com  Scott Weinberg

4/5
"Told with kinetic flair and a go-for-broke style that's more amusing than engrossing."  Filmcritic.com  Sean O'Connell

6/10
"Sneaky, off-beat, satirically seedy psychodrama/thriller with Pierce Brosnan as a droll, comically demented hit-man"  Modamag.com  Susan Granger

2.5/4
"Neither challenging nor incompetent, the picture isn't courageous enough to fail and thus not courageous enough to be a masterpiece."  Film Freak Central  Walter Chaw

8/10
Read review  JoBlo's Movie Emporium  JoBlo

3/4
Read review  Big Picture Big Sound  Joe Lozito

Read review  Cinema Crazed  Felix Vasquez Jr.

Read review  Wolf Entertainment Guide  William Wolf
OFCS Rating: 80% Fresh
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