A lonely hitman meets a wholesome salesman in a Mexico City bar and the two begin an unusual friendship before parting ways. Months later, when the assassin has a nervous breakdown and botches a mission, he must go on the run with no choice but to turn to his only “friend” for help.

Last October I reviewed an advanced screening of THE MATADOR for a certain Salma Hayek-loving movie emporium and said it had “more charm and personality in its 90 minutes than every 007 movie from the past decade.” Watching it a second time on DVD, my original opinion still holds up—this is a darn good flick. It’s got some darkly comic moments, realistic drama and a defining performance from Pierce Brosnan, who grabs his typically suave 007 persona and anally rapes it seven ways from Sunday. His Julian Noble is goofy, perverted and appealingly appalling. Let’s count the ways in which Brosnan is degenerately awesome in this movie (each reason enough to give M a heart attack):
-Cursing at children…check.
-Killing women…check.
-Unprotected bumhumping with prostitutes…check.
-A shaken, not stirred margarita…check.
-Crying…check?

Brosnan may be ridiculous amounts of fun, but both Kinnear and Davis do a great job of keeping the wacky story grounded in a realistic setting. Kinnear does commendable work playing the straight man and still being funny; while Davis, in what should’ve been a throwaway role, manages to effectively steal Brosnan’s thunder in a few scenes as a deceptively sweet housewife.

I debated giving THE MATADOR an even higher score, but the one thing that held me back is its noticeable lack of tension. Yes, Julian finds himself in trouble, but I didn’t ever feel like anyone was in real danger. From the beginning there’s no overarching conflict in the movie, just little episodic problems that are resolved too quickly in the end. However, this admittedly doesn’t stop THE MATADOR from being any less fun along the way. If anything it makes me wish Brosnan and Quentin Tarantino had hooked up for that R-rated Bond flick. If this film is any indicator, it would’ve been a blast.

Video: 2.35:1 widescreen. The bright color scheme director Richard Shepard uses fits the tone of the movie perfectly and it looks great on this DVD.

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital. Despite what the commercials say, this is not an action movie, so don’t expect to test your speakers. (I think there’s one explosion in the whole thing.) On the other hand, the filthy one liners sounds great!

The DVD gets your typical extras and some nice commentaries. Seeing as how it didn’t blow the box office away, I’m thankful we got this much.

Commentary by director Richard Shepard: Shepard has a good sense of humor and talks pretty much nonstop the whole time. If you like the movie, you’d probably get some enjoyment out of this.

Commentary by Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear and Richard Shepard: In his wallet, Greg Kinnear keeps a picture of Pierce Brosnan in his underwear. Just thought you should know. Much like the movie itself, this is a fun and uninhibited listen. Brosnan and Shepard are both very funny, but Kinnear gets most of the laughs, a reminder for me of his old Talk Soup days.

Making THE MATADOR (7:20): Each member of the cast and the director get their time in the spotlight to lavish each other with praise. And apparently I’m not alone; everyone in the cast and crew can’t stop talking about how great and against-type Pierce Brosnan is in this movie.

Deleted Scenes (16:17): Nothing incredibly special, just some extended examples of how sleazy Julian can be. We do get an extra minute of screen time from Phillip Baker Hall and Dylan Baker, which can’t be a bad thing.

Director Richard Shepard on the Radio: Two different on-air interviews Shepard did around the time he went to Sundance to sell the movie. A unique feature you don’t find too often on DVDs, and you just might learn something about the shooting of the film.

A Theatrical Trailer and a TV Spot, both of which do a much better job selling the film for what it is (a black comedy, not an action movie).

I’m sure you’ve seen the TV commercials for THE MATADOR DVD that make it look like an average action vehicle for Pierce Brosnan, complete with girls and guns. Normally I can’t stand it when the marketing department clearly sells a movie wrong, but not in this case. I truly hope a nice family rents THE MATADOR expecting the typical James Bond-type flick. And I sincerely want to see their children’s faces as they watch 007 put on nail polish and hit on 12 year old girls.

Watch THE MATADOR.