The Matador made a pretty good-sized splash as part of 2005's Sundance line-up, I remember Adam mentioning that he liked it. The newest member or our film crew Tyler Sanders and I took in a screening last night and came away smiling. The Matador gets rolling in Mexico City when a career hitman (Pierce Brosnan) and a business man in town looking to land an account (Greg Kinnear) share a fortuitous drink at a hotel bar. Kinnear's fortunes as we learn have been on the decline for the past several years - the company he'd worked for had unexpectedly laid him off, and he confides in Brosnan that his teenage son was killed in a bus accident a few years prior. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start when Brosnan responds to this news by offering a dirty joke, whereupon Kinnear walks away in disbelief and disgust at his new acquaintance's crass reaction.

The following morning Brosnan manages to smooth it over and the two spend a most unusual day - starting with a bullfight and culminating with Brosnan telling Kinnear what he does for a living and giving his new friend an all-too-real demonstration as to how his job is generally carried out. Kinnear becomes oddly fascinated by this bizarre man and for his part Brosnan is quite engaging, and obviously having a blast poking holes in his typically smooth personae. He's the human equivalent of a loud fart in church. As it turns out, however, the hitman has recently developed a number of psychological problems that have had a very debilitating effect on his ability to do his job. He works high-paying corporate gigs where even the smallest miscues are not tolerated and it seems that a botched effort in Manilla has caused him to be something of a liability to his employers.

Out of fear of another botched shoot, Brosnan tries to recruit Kinnear to assist with his latest assignment. Kinnear wants nothing to do with it, but later that night when he learns that the deal which was all but inked and so desperately needed to keep his fledgling company above water, has fallen through - he has a moment of weakness. He fears that another bit of bad luck might be the straw that breaks the back of his marriage to his beloved wife Bean (Hope Davis). When Brosnan shows up at his hotel door drunk and apologetic the film reaches a moral crossroads, that we must wait some time to learn the nature and outcome of. The film jumps ahead in time at this point, which is equal parts frustrating and effective because it starts the wheels of speculation turning in your mind.

We cut to another exotic locale this time in Europe where Brosnan's handler (Phillip Baker Hall) must break the news to Brosnan that because of his slip-ups of late he is in great peril of being terminated - which is confirmed in a subsequent conversation between Hall and Dylan Baker in the briefest of cameos. Next thing you know we're in Denver at the Christmas decorated home of Kinnear who is enjoying a lovely bonding moment with Bean. However the mood is broken when a loud knock on their door at near midnight turns out to be none other than Brosnan.

Hope Davis gets a chance to do her quirky, non sequitir spouting thing - taking an interest in the hitman she's been told so much about, wanting to see his gun and breaking out a bottle of whiskey when they're most peculiar and unexpected guest is invited to spend the night. The only moment that doesn't ring particularly true to me comes at the end of this scene - but for the most part I was impressed. Brosnan's visit isn't entirely social and Kinnear is awakened early in the morning to find out why the hitman has truly come and again Kinnear must make a moral decision. The two really make a pretty fun and effective odd couple and for the most part the humor and dialogue are well served by their chemistry.

Though the crux of the plot is a bit insubstantial, it does take enough interesting an unexpected twists to make the ending satisfying enough. You sort of suspect that something may have happened and then have it confirmed and then turned around on you again in away that represents a nice arc of character for one of our two Matadors. All of the players turn in fine performances, yet the film is really a two man job and both Kinnear and Brosnan carry this oddball story off like old pros.