A POIGNANT COMIC GEM
In THE MATADOR, a delightfully sly diversion, Pierce Brosnan breaks the mold and turns in what might be considered the performance of his career, the kind of witty, relaxed star portrayal that recalls those of Cary Grant and other Golden Era legends. Setting him up to perfection is Greg Kinnear, every bit as amusing and assured. As if this weren't enough, Hope Davis, one of the most protean young actresses working in films, lends further sparkle and drollery. THE MATADOR marks a fine feature debut for Richard Shepard, who exhibits that precious gift of being able to work in the mainstream yet maintain the utmost sophistication in his point of view and in dialogue that crackles with inspired wit and humor.
Julian offers Brosnan a great comic role with crucial dark undertones. An aging loner with no friends outside his brief acquaintance with Danny, Julian is a man who has no permanent address, has indulged in all the sex any man could possibly crave, but has never known love. By contrast, Danny and his wife are a couple whose deep love has been strengthened by tragedy and adversity, regular folks on the surface yet highly intelligent, humorous and open-minded. There is no question that Julian is a dangerous man, especially as he comes apart. Danny's kindness and hospitality to Julian is undoubtedly an invitation to potential disaster, and at this point, suspense kicks in in earnest, along with the humor.
Shepard, however, is a genuine high-wire artist, and although Julian may be losing his grip, THE MATADOR, which manages to be stylish without ever seeming slick, never does. It is contemporary in tone but has that combination of sentiment and worldliness of beloved Hollywood classics with their confident effortlessness and throwaway humor — Billy Wilder comes to mind. THE MATADOR is a late entry into the year-end sweepstakes, but now that hoopla surrounding the holiday blockbusters has peaked, audiences will have a better chance at not overlooking this poignant comic gem.
-- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

THE BEST PERFORMANCE PIERCE BROSNAN HAS EVER GIVEN
THE MATADOR springs a sunny surprise. It's funny, quirky and sad, and wonderfully well acted. The Sundance audience walked out astonished. Writer/director Richard Shepard finds an eerie balance of the macabre, the delightful and the sentimental; the movie is so nimble it sometimes switches tones in the middle of a sentence. Everything centers on the best performance Pierce Brosnan has ever given. The direction, writing and acting elevate THE MATADOR into something very special. It's SIDEWAYS with death instead of wine.
-- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

A JOY TO BEHOLD
Pierce Brosnan is the anti-Bond in THE MATADOR. And though he's anything but suave, sophisticated or debonair, he's a joy to behold.
What sells this movie is how winningly Brosnan and Kinnear play off each other. Both have never been funnier. Julian tells Danny: "You're the exact opposite of me." And that may be the secret to the gravitational pull between these characters. Writer/director Richard Shepard has fashioned a witty screenplay and well-drawn, compelling characters that feel plausible, despite the outlandish scenario.
-- Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

ONE OF THE TOP TEN FILMS OF THE YEAR! GRADE A
With James Bond squarely behind him, Pierce Brosnan couldn't have picked a juicier role to help cleanse that martini aftertaste. As a flawed and potently potty-mouthed hit man who develops emotional and psychological problems before an important kill, Brosnan sparks up a friendship with average-guy Greg Kinnear. Both find themselves in Mexico City for pivotal moments of their lives: Brosnan is coming off a botched assassination attempt and needs to reestablish his cred, while Kinnear is there to land a business deal following the death of his child. In both humorous and sincere ways, they soon learn to appreciate each other's livelihood without being judgmental. It's a tour-de-force performance for Brosnan, who simultaneously shows plenty of both machismo and vulnerability--and delivers some of the sauciest lines of the year. Grab this one by the horns, and enjoy the ride.
-- E! On Line

A SAVAGE, BREEZY, OCCASSIONALLY OBSCENE AND SOMETIMES POIGNANT MIX OF COMEDY AND CRIME
THE MATADOR is a nice year-end surprise worth checking out. I don’t know why 52-year-old Pierce Brosnan, after four hit outings as James Bond, lost his job as the world’s suavest spy. But THE MATADOR is the perfect revenge on his former employers. It’s a savage, breezy, occasionally obscene and sometimes poignant mix of comedy and crime about a scruffy international contract killer and a meek Denver businessman whose lives become serendipitously intertwined in Mexico City. Mr. Brosnan has never been better. As hit man Julian Noble, a cold-blooded killer who loses his nerve, tires of his work ethic and feels close to a nervous breakdown, Mr. Brosnan is a planet away from anything resembling 007 in this comedic film noir.
The humor is in the wild, unfiltered dialogue and tongue-in-cheek direction (both by Richard Shepard) and the stylish “odd couple” role reversals of the two stars—what fun to watch Pierce Brosnan as he realizes that all those rogues and crooks he’s known are not what you’d call real friends, while Greg Kinnear gains devil-may-care pugnacity on the job and Hope Davis literally “moons” over the risky, glamorous and profitable prospects of crime.Stylistically, The Matador is like Julian: bold, quick and effortlessly entertaining. And the film is a delectable revelation for Mr. Brosnan—skillfully funny, messily handsome and deliciously sleazy. Self-parody? Maybe. (He’s one of the producers.) He’s explored his subtle and sensitive sides before, but thanks to the witty and twisted script, he shows something new here. He also proves that tuxedos can turn into straitjackets and that bad boys have more fun. Blond, steely-eyed Daniel Craig may grab the publicity as the new 007 for now (and discover the downside later)—but in THE MATADOR, the old 007 is pulling off something sneaky and altogether exhilarating.
-- Rex Reed, New York Observer

IF PIERCE BROSNAN CAN BE AS ROARINGLY FIERCE AND FUNNY AS HE IS AS JULIAN NOBLE, A HIT MAN SUFFERING A MELTDOWN, THEN WHO NEEDS JAMES BOND?
Writer-director Richard Shepard gives Brosnan his meatiest role ever, and he digs in with relish. The sight of a drunken Brosnan walking through a hotel lobby in nothing but cowboy boots and Speedos is time-capsule-worthy. Julian meets Denver exec Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) at a bar in Mexico City, a place where Julian insists the margaritas taste best -- and also the cock. The gay joke flips out Danny, but the two become friends -- an odd coupling that lets Brosnan and Kinnear lob comic fastballs. But Julian is falling apart. This top "facilitator of fatalities" can't squeeze the trigger. How Danny, with a wife (Hope Davis) back home, manages to figure in Julian's rehab as a killer is a surprise no review should reveal. Just sit back and enjoy the fun.
-- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

A DELIGHTFULY PERVERSE REINVENTION OF THE BUDDY COMEDY
Like James Bond, Julian Noble is a globe-trotting rake for whom killing comes as naturally as breathing. Julian, however, preffers Speedos to tuxes--all the better to flaunt his fetching beer gut-- and is more likely to bang blowsey waitresses then supermodels. Pierce Brosnan has a grand old time playing this tacky terror, and under most circumstances the mustachioed assassin would completely eclipse a character like depressive bussinessman Danny wright (Greg Kinnear). but in the assured hands of writer-director Richard Shepard, what results is a delightfully perverse reinvention of the buddy-comedy formula, a film that’s equal parts Strangers on a Train, In the Company of Men, and Analyze This. Shepard uses the story of an unlikely friendship as a vehicle for a combination character study and morality play laden with skillfull plot twists. The glamourous genre trappings are off set by an effective strwak of domestic drama: back in the states, Danny’s marriage to Bean (Hope davis) has been on thin ice since the death of their son. Shepard shoots their suburban Colorado home as stylishly as he does the far flung citioes on Julian’s ittinerary, a move that typifies the evenhandedness that makes THE MATADOR a refreshing entry in an overplayed subgenre.
-- Andrew Johnston, Time Out New York

THE MATADOR IS A STYLISH, DARKY FUNNY COMEDY
Pierce Brosnan stars as a cynical, washed-up, irresistible cad of a hit man in THE MATADOR. It’s the kind of role you’d expect to see Billy Bob Thornton play, or Jack Nicholson if the movie had come out 20 years ago. We know Brosnan’s Julian Noble is devilish from the first time we see him with tattoos and a bad mustache, waking up in a hotel bed with an empty bottle of Maker’s Mark on the nightstand on one side and a naked woman lying next to him on the other. You could call Julian Noble the anti-James Bond — even more so than the part Brosnan played in “The Tailor of Panama,” which was considered the anti-Bond when that film came out in 2001. This character is even more twisted and tormented, and Brosnan wears it as comfortably as one of 007’s custom-made tuxedos. And in THE MATADOR, writer-director Richard Shepard has crafted for Brosnan and Greg Kinnear a breezy, stylish, darkly funny thriller that transcends the cliches of the mismatched-buddy movie genre.
The two have an easy chemistry — it helps a great deal that Shepard has given them clever things to say — but both actors create meaty, complex characters who are always believable and never feel like broad types, despite their familiarity. Danny could have been a spineless shlub, a caricature of the naive, big-hearted Midwesterner, but Kinnear brings a great deal of pathos and intelligence to the role. Brosnan, meanwhile, slowly shows the loneliness beneath the bravado as Julian ages and questions himself.
-- Christy Lemire, Associated Press/MSNBC AT THE MOVIES

THE MATADOR GRABS THE BULL BY THE HORNS
THE MATADOR, the latest film from writer/director Richard Shepard, may be the most intriguing comedy of the holiday season. With a limited but incredibly competent cast, The Matador draws you in with both humorous stints of dialogue and a side of Pierce Brosnan you've never seen before.
THE MATADOR delivers on every aspect of filmmaking. The structure and writing of the film is as incredible as the performances given by the actors. The direction is sharp, the transitions are crisp and the title cards that bare the names of the cities in which Julian travels for "jobs" are in large font and take up the screen, which present a unique look for the usually simplistic titles. THE MATADOR flashes both signs of humor and sadness. The theatre exploded with laughter after priceless one-liners delivered by Brosnan while you could hear the echo of crunching popcorn as Kinnear explains how he lost his son. Overall, The Matador makes for exciting entertainment and proves to be one of the funniest (and no doubt quirkiest) performances of Brosnan's career. And to think, all he had to do was trade in a tux for a shade of dark metallic toenail polish.
-- Matthew Cromwell, Bahamas B2B Film Critic

'SHOCKINGLY GOOD'
In a Mexico City hotel bar, killer-for-hire Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan), who’s better at whacking strangers than talking to them, offends and later charms business traveler Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a decent man whose smile doesn’t quite mask the pain he feels over the death of his son. At the bullfights the next day, the two men share a miniadventure, then Danny heads home to Denver to tell his wife (Hope Davis, transplendent) about the crazy hit man he met, only to have Julian knock on their door a few months later. “I need your help in facilitating a fatality,” Julian admits, and what follows is an improbable, very funny assassination caper that takes an intensely emotional turn when Julian’s slow nervous breakdown crests at the worst possible moment. As imagined by writer-director Richard Shepard, Julian is James Bond gone awry — crude, drunken, freaked — and Brosnan, who co-produced (no fool he), grabs hold of the character like a man who’s glimpsed divinity. Yet, charms aside, Julian remains a cold-blooded killer; if we care about him, it’s because Danny cares. And maybe Brosnan is so shockingly good in this film because Kinnear gives him the sounding board and safety net that the actor never had in his sadly solitary spy-flick duties. Destined to forever play the nice guy, the underrated Kinnear proves himself a great listener — an all-too-rare acting skill that rarely earns awards or blurbs. He’d make a great bartender.
-- Chuck Wilson, LA WEEKLY

ONE NIFTY LITTLE SUSPENSE COMEDY
"For an assassin, he’s a nice guy," says Greg Kinnear of Pierce Brosnan’s character in this breezy outing. Brosnan sends up his James Bond image by playing a potbellied “facilitator of fatalities,” a once debonair hit man who’s having a crashing midlife crisis. Kinnear is the ordinary Joe who gets involved in Brosnan’s glammy but dangerous life (they bond after a drunken night in Mexico City). Throw in the luminous Hope Davis as Kinnear’s bedazzled wife—she’s more convinced of Brosnan’s killer staying power than he is—and you’ve got one nifty little suspense comedy. Writer-director Richard Shepard may toss one or two too many twists into his corkscrew plot to keep THE MATADOR from occasionally becoming merely ridiculous, but Brosnan stays on-point as a man who doubts the worth of his entire adult life: Even his despair has panache.
-- Ken Tucker, New York Magazine

GRADE A - A MASTERPIECE
It’s a simple story about an assassin who just can’t kill anymore and the businessman down on his luck; they get together to help each other out and live the life they were always supposed to live. That’s what THE MATADOR is basically all about; there are a few twists and turns, a few dead people, a happy couple, a desperate killer, and some good laughs – well, just watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean. There’s great chemistry between Greg and Pierce, they really seem to have a love/hate relationship. The only thing I don’t like is Pierce has a mustache, and for some reason, I can’t get over that; it just doesn’t look right. But if that’s the only complaint, then I think we’ve got ourselves a good movie.
-- Dick Stevens

RIOTOUSLY FUNNY, SEXY AND VERY SLICKLY SHOT
THE MATADOR, written and directed by Richard Shepard, is one of the genuine surprises of the London Film Festival. It stars Pierce Brosnan as a bisexual, heavy drinking, vulgar, friendless hitman, Julian, who while on a job in Mexico, runs into the down-on-his-luck businessman, Danny (played by Greg Kinnear). The two form an unlikely, and unpredictable friendship. Both men are terrific, and Brosnan, indeed, is revelatory, but the film is all but stolen by the terrific Hope Davis as Danny's wife. If there's an actor or actress in Hollywood more adept at making something special out of nothing parts, then they're unknown to me. In both this, and Proof, she has shown real star quality, and will surely garner an Oscar nomination for at least one of the roles. THE MATADOR is the best film that Brosnan has ever made, it's riotously funny, sexy and very slickly shot. It's a treat that has cult-hit written all over it.
-- Alex Crawford, BBC

Alex Crawford's Top 10 films of The Times bfi 49th London Film Festival:
Directed by Richard Shepard, this is a three hander of the very highest order. It's a clever, outrageous crime comedy, with three tremendous turns by Pierce Brosnan (as a bisexual, womanising, alcoholic hitman), Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis (who play a married couple that Brosnan's character befriends). There's a whole heap of heart, but what will stick in your mind is the fabulous dialogue, the performances and the number of visual surprises, such as Brosnan dressed as a cheerleader and the actor walking through his hotel lobby in a pair of black underpants, ankle high cowboy boots and little else. Brilliant.
-- Alex Crawford, BBC

A FEARLESSLY SELF-MOCKING PERFORMANCE BY PIERCE BROSNAN
Deftly maneuvering through audacious mood swings and tonal shifts, THE MATADOR emerges as a quirky yet commercial co-mingling of black comedy, seriocomic psychodrama, heart-tugging sudser and buddy-movie farce. Propelled by a fearlessly self-mocking performance by Pierce Brosnan as a swaggering vulgarian, writer-director Richard Shepard's eccentric amalgam remains funny and sustains interest, and he does a bang-up job of lacing humorous scenes with an undercurrent of threat. Brosnan exuberantly trashes his slick screen image, but the film wouldn't be nearly as fun if Brosnan didn't develop an aptly edgy give and take with Greg Kinnear. The scene where Brosnan parades through a hotel lobby clad only in cowboy boots and skimpy speedo is drop-dead hilarious.
-- Joe Leydon, Variety

THE MATADOR GETS A 151-PROOF TEQUILA SHOT OF SHARP COMEDY
THE MATADOR gets a 151-proof tequila shot of sharp comedy from the droll interplay between Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. Writer/director Richard Shepard's quirky black comedy is wonderfully off-kilter, and the performances, including Hope Davis, give THE MATADOR definitive commercial potential.
-- Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

THE MATADOR IS FUNNY, SHARP AND BURSTING WITH COMEDY
**** out of 5 stars
From Bond to bi, Pierce Brosnan ditches the martinis and beautiful women for a bushy upper lip and cheap prostitutes of any sex in THE MATADOR, a very different kind of assassin story. The result is outstanding; this is James Bond in a fit of depression. Brosnan is Julian Noble, a hired-gun whose conscience has finally caught up with him. When he bungles a job, and his employers won't release him, he knows that he's dead if he can't complete the next with no problems. Enter Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), who strikes up an unusual friendship with the inept assassin at the hotel bar while they're both in Mexico on business. As they drink themselves silly with Margherita after Margherita, Julian lets slip his profession and before long Danny's fascinated to hear all about it. Pretty soon, Danny realises he's in for more than he bargained. The comedy is top-notch and the performances to die for. Brosnan could be Billy Bob Thornton as Julian, finding that level of selfish indifference that could either be read as hilarious or offensive. Remaining forever on the line, Brosnan proves his comic potential is massive and Kinnear, in an odd reversal the straight man, bounces of him expertly. With Julian Noble Brosnan creates a character so unlike anything he's done before that it's a real breath of fresh air and, what's more, he takes an essentially revolting villain and forces the audience to sympathise. It's as though through his selfish lust for life, Julian is actually screaming at us all simply to like him. And we do; we love him in spite of himself. THE MATADOR is funny, sharp and bursting with comedy. If you see only one film in this festival, you'd do well to make it this one.
-- Joe Utichi, Film Focus (UK)

IT'S FAST, FUNNY AND INTOXICATING
Of all the [current] movies centering on male angst, the most compelling by far is THE MATADOR, Riichard Shepard’s film about a hit man suffering a nervous breakdown. This isn’t a brand new storyline, but it’s rendered with marvelous brio. Pierce Brosnan gives his best performance yet. He doesn’t try to gloss over Julian’s brutality or sleaziness, but we can understand why Danny (Greg Kinnear), the mild-mannered businessman who meets him at a hotel bar in Mexico, would be drawn to him. Julian is so honest about his amorality that he’s mesmerizing. The film has the same kind of sinful allure as Julian; it’s fast, funny and intoxicating. The violent scenes have a startling immediacy, but the film has just as much punch in its more intimate encounters. Kinnear creates a deft portrait of a cautious man who is coming apart in his own way. Reeling from the death of a child and hampered by financial pressures, Kinnear’s Danny is feeling vulnerable when he meets Julian and falls under his spell. The unlikely friendship betwen these two very different men galvanizes this macabre variation of “The Odd Couple.” Julian and Danny end up aiding each other in unexpected ways; each helps the other to quell some of his demons. THE MATADOR may not be a profound exploration of male malaise, but it’s almost an obscenely entertaining look at two men on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
-- Stephen Farber, Movieline/Hollywood Life Magazine

GRADE: A+
In Richard Shepard’s new comedy THE MATADOR, our two heroes first meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City. Danny (Greg Kinnear), a mild-mannered American in town on business, sits down and orders a margarita. Julian (Pierce Brosnan), a tequila-soaked English hitman, takes the stool next to him, and Danny tries polite conversation. “Don’t margaritas always taste better in Mexico?” he asks. Julian nods and adds, “Margaritas and cock.” Danny freaks out and Julian, satisfied, smiles. It’s the beginning of a strange, complicated friendship, and the first of many surprising and witty moments in a surprising and witty film. After Julian takes a shine to his new friend, Danny is soon neck-deep in Julian’s booze, brothel and bullet-filled life. Apart, each man is hopelessly broken-Danny, along with his wife (Davis), is still grieving his young son’s recent death; Julian is drowning in the shallows of a mid-life crisis-but together, they have a shot at turning things around. The whole Odd Couple conceit goes back to vaudeville and beyond, and we could’ve forgiven Shepard had he slapped together a few laughs and come up with a thinking man’s Tommy Boy. But with the help of Kinnear, Davis and a hilarious Brosnan, all at the top of their games, Shepard gives his characters depth and complexity. It’s funny and sad, hopeful and hopeless, light and dark. In other words, it’s a lot like you.
-- Richard Dorment, GIANT Magazine

***1/2 out of 4
In THE MATADOR, Pierce Brosnan plays a remarkably unglamorized hit man. Julian Noble is drunk, needy, smarmy and prone to panic attacks -- the anti-Bond, really. The only women he seems to be acquainted with are paid to spend time with him, and he thinks nothing of wandering through a hotel lobby clad only in a Speedo and cowboy boots. Julian finds an unlikely best friend in Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a defeated businessman with bad luck, desperate for a big deal to go through. Julian and Danny end up in Mexico City at the same time, and in one night at the hotel bar they forge their unlikely relationship -- sort of. After Danny confides a personal tragedy and Julian responds with an obscene joke, it seems they might not meet again. But months later, there Julian is on Danny's doorstep in Denver, and it's clear the two are strangely bound together. This dark, gruffly funny comedy was written and directed by Richard Shepard who uses the basic buddy-comedy formula -- two mismatched souls thrown together in unlikely circumstances -- but infuses it with something more interesting. The plot is unpredictable, even winsome, and the performances by Brosnan and Kinnear are richly textured and compelling. Also great, as always, is Hope Davis as Danny's wife, and Philip Baker Hall as Julian's boss. But the heart of the movie is the friendship between the characters played by Kinnear and Brosnan, and both actors clearly relish the roles. THE MATADORr is a superbly cast story that clearly marks Shepard as a filmmaker to watch.
-- Phoebe Flowers, Florida Sun Sentinel

PIERCE BROSNAN BLOWS US AWAY
In Richard Shepard's highly satisfying THE MATADOR, Pierce Brosnan screws, chews and woos the scenery like it's none of your business. It's a slam-bang revelation for the actor. Yes, this is basically a buddy picture, but one with a fresh, vaguely deviant sensibility. With focused direction and engaging screenplay by Richard Shepard, you might actually find yourself feeling for this troubled hit man and his more domesticated buddy. The film has a really great look with bold colors and in your face attitude. Above it all is Brosnan's refreshingly bold performance, probably his finest, that really makes this picture seethe and breathe with nasty abandon. He blows us all away.
-- Daniel Wible, Film Threat

*** out of 4 stars
Pierce Brosnan puts his James Bond persona through a helluva funhouse mirror to portay one superfreak of a hitman in writer/director Richard Shepard's enjoyable shaggy-dog story which takes an almost indecent amount of pleasure in upending one's expectations as to what a black comedy about an assassin for hire making an unlikely friendship with a regular guy should deliver. The fakeouts are fun: Greg Kinnear is a perfect foil as Brosnan swears, sweats, and stomps through a hotel lobby in a speedo and cowboy boots, making you wonder just what his character's sexual orientation is, exactly. And Hope Davis is hilarious as Kinnear's strangely giddy wife.
-- Glenn Kenny, Premiere Magazine

THE FIRST MUST SEE MOVIE OF 2006
On the evidence of his role in THE MATADOR, Pierce Brosnan's post-Bond career looks like an intriguing prospect. The narrative takes the form of a black comedy, with vulgarity, violence and extremely loose morals defining the character of Julian Noble (Brosnan), a hitman who is well past his prime. After a chance encounter with Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) a travelling salesman, a strange and profound relationship begins to develop between the two men. THE MATADOR’s black humour comes from the characters impenetrably bleak situations and the fact that these disparate people end up needing each other to the extent that they do. Brosnan, who turns in a wonderfully layered performance without a hint of vanity proves to be the biggest surprise of the film. It seems a huge shame that he was never allowed to push his characterisation as Bond as far as he is allowed to go with Julian. Whether playing broad comedy or highly emotive drama, he successfully finds the right pitch to connect the scene to the audience. A perfect example of this is the scene where he is phoning around trying to find a friend to spend some time with. Julian's despair at the lack of human contact (cemented with a sad payoff at the close of the scene) has a dreadful sense of reality to it and strikes a raw nerve. Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis (delivering her customary subtle performance in what could have been a standard ‘boys only' narrative) excel as the couple who are drawn into what is, on the face of it, a glamorous and exciting world (a myth that 007 invariably helps to purport!) while also providing a sense of suburban normality in contrast to Julian's international playboy bravado. What impresses most about THE MATADOR is what a fine showcase for character acting the film is. The three principals all deliver fully rounded performances and play off each other beautifully. Despite a brief running time (the film flies by and certainly could have been longer) there is a sense of familiarity about the characters and it seems sad to point out that this is something of a rarity in cinema today. THE MATADOR ultimately breathes much needed life into the stale buddy formula. The film feels fresh and different from other examples of the genre, harking back in some ways to the 1970's era of American cinema where character and plot lead the way. The fact that it also manages to convey a cool, edgy sensibility is a welcome bonus making the film the first must see movie of 2006.
-- Jonathan Wilkins, 6 Degrees Film.com

**** out of 4 stars
THE MATADOR is a quirky, slightly off-kilter and very funny movie. Pierce Brosnan stars as Julian Noble, an aging assassin (or facilitator as he likes to be known since he facilitates people's passage from this life to the next) whose fashion sense and hair style seems to have peaked in the 1970s. An alcoholic on the verge of job burnout, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with traveling businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) in a hotel bar in Mexico City. Like a lot of fans, I'm sure, Brosnan will always be Bond to me, but in this movie that actually helps his character. He comes with confidence and the knowledge of killing of a Bond-type character, but then his manners and dress sense are as far as you can possibly get from the ultra-sophisticated British Spy. He gets the movie's best and funniest lines, most of which are so completely vulgar that I won't repeat them here. In The Tailor of Panama, he also played a vulgar spy, yet that character still retained a certain suaveness that is completely absent here. Just try to picture Bond walking across a hotel lobby in just a Speedo and cowboy boots, cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. Coupled with Kinnear, the two make the most mismatched buddies since DeNiro teamed up with Charles Grodin in Midnight Run. They have an onscreen chemistry that lights up the movie. Kinnear brings Danny, the movie's everyman, to life, holding his own against the scene-stealing Brosnan and generating his own laughs. Hope Davis is also quite funny in a small part as Danny's wife who suddenly finds a hitman staying over at her house. Dark comedies like this one are far too rare these days. If you get a chance to see this one, take it.
-- Three Movie Buffs Review.com

A WICKEDLY FUNNY PIERCE BROSNAN
In a role that might have been written for Christopher Walken, Pierce Brosnan shows a surprising affinity for perverse characterization and black comedy. He plays Julian Noble, an international assassin suffering a serious case of career burnout. Greg Kinnear is Danny Wright, a desperate businessman trying to close a deal in Mexico City when he meets Noble in a bar. A fragile friendship develops between the buttoned-up salesman and the vulgar killer, and something happens in Mexico City that will come back to haunt Wright when Noble shows up at his home in Denver. Writer-director Richard Shepard keeps this dicey material from getting either too silly or too serious and Kinnear proves himself a very able straight man to a wickedly funny Brosnan.
-- Jack Matthews, New York Daily News

PIERCE BROSNAN IS DROP DEAD HILARIOUSLY BRILLIANT
THE MATADOR is one of the Sundance Film Festival's most pleasant surprises. It stars Pierce Brosnan (who is drop-dead hilariously brilliant here) as a burnt-out assassin and Greg Kinnear as a nice-guy businessman who finds himself pals with the gleefully profane hit man. Hope Davis delivers a great supporting turn. The flick is directed with big doses of colorful zing, and the screenplay delivers surprises that don't feel tacked on or stupid. It's consistently funny, lovely to look at... and it even gets bizarrely sweet when all's said and done. Good stuff!
--Scott Weinberg, JoBlo.com

THE MATADOR IS A SHARP, COMICAL HITMAN TALE
Brosnan gives the best performance of his career as lowlife assassin Julian Noble, the booze-soaked, sex-obsessed killer at the center of director Richard Shepard's exhilarating film. Audience response to THE MATADOR has been positive since the film debuted at Sundance earlier this year. Toronto audiences continue the momentum. If Brosnan wants to remind people of his range as an actor and his ability to have a long and successful post-Bond acting career, then THE MATADOR is as good as it gets.
-- Steve Ramos, City Beat

*** out of 4 stars
THE MATADOR is a lightweight but entertaining black comedy revolving around two disparate characters that become unlikely friends. Julian (Pierce Brosnan) is a burnt-out hitman who'd like nothing more than to hang up his silencer for good, while Danny (Greg Kinnear) is a well-meaning salesman who worries that his wife (played by Hope Davis) is going to leave him if business doesn't pick up soon. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, THE MATADOR moves at a brisk pace and features a pair of exceedingly enjoyable performances - with Brosnan particularly effective playing a character that couldn't be further away from James Bond. Shepard's script is peppered with a number of genuinely funny moments, and the inclusion of a couple of surprising plot twists towards the conclusion keeps things interesting. And while there's no denying that THE MATADOR is the sort of movie one forgets about moments after it's ended, the movie's breezy vibe quickly proves to be irresistible.
-- Reel Film Reviews

THE QUIRKIEST BUDDY MOVIE OF THE YEAR
Talk about an odd couple. In Richard Shepard's quirky new film THE MATADOR Pierce Brosnan is Julian Noble, an assassin who's tall, handsome, charming and has a yen for hookers, tequila and gold-chain necklaces. For all his vanities, Brosnan's hitman is starting to lose his nerve. His business may be his pleasure, but the pleasure is adding up to a whopping buzzkill - he's starting to see his adolescent self in every target's face. That, and he's lonely. So on his birthday, the Cockney-talking and mustachioed Julian finds himself sitting at the same hotel bar as his complete and polar opposite, Danny Wright. Danny, played by Greg Kinnear, is short, bespectacled, flat-accented and virtuously clean-shaven, a good guy married to his high-school sweetheart, Bean (Hope Davis), whose only real deviation from normalcy is occasional romps with her on the dining room table. Life for Danny is worse than normal. After losing his job four years ago to layoffs, his son dies in a school-bus accident. A tree falls through his kitchen roof and his wife is starting to lose faith. Everything is riding on a business deal in Mexico City. Failure, for Danny, is starting to look less like an option and more like fate. But fate is what has brought them together.Julian's breakdown has tainted his reputation as "a facilitator of fatalities." With his head now in the crosshairs, he needs Danny to get out of trouble and head to the Valhalla of assassins, Greece. Danny, for his part, also needs Julian, but in a much different way. Fate will test his moral fiber and it will be Julian, of all people, who guides him toward the straight and narrow. THE MATADOR is the quirkiest buddy movie of the year. Here moral extremes meet and make friends, as if Jesus suddenly said to himself: "Oh what a friend I have in Satan." Brosnan's rakishness takes the bite out of his homicidal occupation. At one point he borrows nail polish from a companionable lady-friend to color his own nails. It's the kind of humor that makes you think: Sure he kills people, but he's not all that bad. Kinnear's authentic Mr. Nice Guy is wondrously inoffesive and so funny as a complement to Brosnan's porn-star crassness. Kinnear captures ambivalence of wanting to be like Julian, but not wanting to be like him at the same time. In the end, Danny learns what Julian means when he says that guys like him have all the luck.
-- John Stoehr, Savannah Morning News

Julian Noble's march across a Mexico City hotel patio, wearing black speedos and cowboy boots, is one of thoe deliriously incandescent moments that flash across the screen from time to time. Pierce Brosnan's full-on performance as an aging hit man makes this just one of the outrageous scenes on THE MATADOR. In imagining an unlikey friendship between Brosnan and Greg Kinnear, writer/director Richard shepard (with the supercharged help of cinematographer David Tattersall and editor Carole Kravitz-Aykanian) serves up two portraits of desperation. He also delivers one wildly frenetic riff on the transformational properties of comraderie. What transpies between Danny and Julian in Mexico is bizarre enough. When Julian shows up at Danny's home in Denver, things go from mad to sweetly perverse. Skillfully maneuvering a number of genres here, Shepard could easily be the matador of his movie's title. With a character like Julian, he's taken a lot of bull and won.
-- Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

YOU'VE NEVER SEEN PIERCE BROSNAN QUITE LIKE THIS. AND DAMN IF HE ISN'T HILARIOUS
You've never seen Pierce Brosnan quite like this. And damn if he isn't hilarious. THE MATADOR floats such a familiar boat about opposites attracting and hitman cliches that we've probably already made up our minds on exactly where it's heading. Well you'll be right and quite wrong. Richard Shepard's script takes us right up to the moment of inevitability and then veers us just slightly off path enough to keep us from getting settled onto the same old road. It moves along so briskly and confidently that we're thinking anything but 'are we there yet?' Plus, any film that can turn a song by Asia into a perfectly rousing anthem has to be given its props. Brosnan's performance here is a sincere treasure; possibly the most entertaining of his career. Greg Kinnear is a great straight man for him and Hope Davis delivers a giddily funny turn as the wife who goes all gooey not for the man, but for his gun. Writer/director Shepard certainly deserves his share for putting the words into Brosnan's mouth. Julian and Danny are rich characters, grasping for something more but not ready to come to terms with what they wish for. The Matador is solid entertainment through and through and will be worth seeing again and again just to watch Brosnan mop up the scenery. Hopefully, future Bonds will be given such the chance.
-- Erik Childress, eFilmCritic.com

THE MATADOR IS A DEFT BLACK COMEDY
Writer/director Richard Shepard has fashioned a great, off beat buddy movie with terrific performances all around from a cast that includes in addition to Brosnan and Kinnear, Hope Davis ans the wonderful Phiiip Baker Hall. But the movie belongs to Brosnan, who-- in a single scene guzzling a beer and walking across a hotel lobby clad in only boots and tiny black speedos- regulates Bond to the dustbin of history.
-- Pam Grady, Film Stew

THE MATADOR IS A WINNER
Pierce Brosnan will without a doubt get a Golden Globe nomination in that group's comedy category. He could even land an Oscar nomination depending on how the rest of this fall's releases fare upon release. Brosnan's portrayal of a down-and-out hit man is a hoot, and the movie works consistently, through and through.
-- Roger Friedman, Fox News

*** out of 4
THE MATADOR is an unlikely and surprisingly touching buddy movie, with Pierce Brosnan as a crude hit man and Greg Kinnear as a struggling businessman who meet in a Mexico City bar and, in a very uncorny and darkly comic way, fill each other's voids. Strong performances all around, including from Hope Davis, who plays Kinnear's sheltered wife.
-- Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune

PIERCE BROSNAN'S PERFORMANCE IS AS FUNNY AND FEARLESSLY ABSURD AS ANYTHING HE'S EVER DONE
Pierce 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. The quintessential moment in the film is the one in which Brosnan, hungover and dressed only in a Speedo and a pair of boots, walks into a hotel swimming pool. It's delightfully wacky, an indication Brosnan is willing to go the distance to create a memorable character. And the dedication pays off. Danny and Bean's loving marriage is played nicely by Kinnear and Davis, and their interaction with Julian when he comes to visit six months after the Mexico City incident is just one of the film's many well-oiled comedic sequences. But Julian himself steals the show, a hopeless man with a vulgar sense of humor whose crass remarks ("I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning after the Navy leaves") seem more pitiful than offensive. He's like a once-powerful man who's doing his best to convince you he's still "got it," when in fact "it" left him some time ago. Could such a description apply to Brosnan himself? Yes, maybe so -- which is why his performance here is all the more daring and outrageous. Sometimes you have to shed all traces of dignity and simply start over, rebuilding yourself from the ground up. That's what Julian does, and THE MATADOR may be a sign that Brosnan will do it, too. In both cases, it bodes well for the future.
-- Eric D. Snider, eFilmCritic.com

Miramax's pursuit of THE MATADOR makes perfect sense, and not just because it stars Pierce Brosnan in a complete departure from his typical suave tuxedoed role. The film lies somewhere between a character-driven heist along the lines of SEXY BEAST and a slightly dark buddy movie. When Brosnan's lonely assassin meets up with Greg Kinnear's hopelessly square yuppie, the unlikely friendship that forms is unpredictable enough to hold our attention to the end. Of course, Hope Davis' brilliant turn as Kinnear's naive but slightly naughty wife -- who asks, breathlessly, to see Brosnan's gun soon after meeting him -- is the cherry on director Richard Shepard's sundae. And just try to imagine Brosnan with a tiny mustache, spitting lines like, "I look like a Bangkok whore on a Sunday morning after the Navy left town." Tough to picture, isn't it? Better go see it for yourself.
-- Heather Havrilesky, Salon.com

THE MOVIE IS AT THE SAME TIME FUN, FUNNY, DRAMATIC AND INTELLIGENT
******** out of 10
In THE MATADOR, Pierce Brosnan plays Julian Noble, an assassin who's fighting a losing battle. He's aging, and the number of assassinations he's committed is beginning to take its toll. Greg Kinnear plays Danny Wright, a salesman who is also struggling with his career due to his inability to come to grips with the tragic death of his son. So, one day, Danny gets sent to Mexico on a sales trip that he can't afford to screw up. There, in a hotel bar, he meets Julian who is there on his next project. Although at first Julian acts like a drunken fool (but in a funny drunken fool kinda way), he later apologizes and invites Danny to see a bullfighting competition. There, he reveals that he's an assassin and lets Danny in on a few trade secrets. Fascinated, Danny attaches himself to Julian and the two form an unlikely friendship. But, when Julian asks Danny to help with his latest assignment, the strength of their newfound friendship is tested and the lives of these two men are forever changed. Alright, maybe I'm being a little too dramatic, but you get my drift. I went into THE MATADOR not knowing too much about the story and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a decent story that is both well acted (by Brosnan and Kinnear) and well told. Although it may not appeal to all audiences, the movie is at the same time fun, funny, dramatic and intelligent. I mention intelligent most importantly. Too often these days, movies will appeal the lowest common denominator. They'll go for the cheap laughs and the cheaper thrills. But, THE MATADOR builds both the story and the characters slowly, never revealing too much, and in the end provides a satisfying (if only a little predictable) conclusion. How often can you say that about a movie these days? If carrying this movie. Only 10 years ago, the guy's career was a write-off. Sure, he'd had success on TV in the 80s with Remington Steele, but it appeared he'd never break out of that role. After several appearances in movies that never went anywhere, he finally succumbed to public pressure and took the role of James Bond in GoldenEye. The move payed off, and playing 007 lead to better roles and more success. Today, he is one of the more reliable go-to guys in Hollywood. And although we'll never again see him don the 007 tuxedo, he's had enough success to get the projects he wants to make off the ground. So, it's because of Brosnan that this movie got made and it's because of Brosnan that this movie succeeds. As I said earlier, THE MATADOR may not be a movie for everyone. Unfortunately, black comedies often aren't. But, if you're the type of person who can appreciate the lost art of storytelling and want to see a post-007 Pierce Brosnan in a stand-out performance, The Matador will not disappoint.
-- Liam Cullen, Empire Movies.com

Surpassing its superficial appearance as another one of Hollywood's typical odd-couple style buddy flicks, THE MATADOR manages to transcend the cliches of its basic plotline on the strength of the character-acting so richly developed by the film's two stars. Incorporating exotic locales and fast-paced action sequences, THE MATADOR plays off of Brosnan's James Bond persona to clever ironic effect. Fearless of looking absolutely ridiculous, Brosnan has traded in Bond's designer tuxedos for a Speedo and cowboy boots, perfectly embodying his hitman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. As the levelheaded businessman with emotional issues of his own, Kinnear's Danny complements Brosnan's eccentricity. Despite the film's tendency to veer in different directions--from physical comedy to serious drama to action caper--it is Kinnear's and, most especially Brosnan's, ability to showcase the complexities of the human psyche that keeps THE MATADOR worthwhile.
-- Francesca Dinglasan, Box Office Magazine

AN EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE, SUPERBLY WRITTEN COMEDY DRAMA WITH A TERRIFIC COMIC PERFORMANCE FROM PIERCE BROSNAN
**** out of 5
Pierce Brosnan stars as Julian Noble, a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, womanising hit-man who travels all over the globe to do his corporate gigs. On a trip to Mexico City, Julian flips out and finds himself on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It is at that point that he meets Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a unlucky businessman hoping to land an important deal, and the two men become unlikely friends. THE MATADOR concentrates on character and dialogue despite a premise that seems to practically guarantee action of some kind. What emerges is a film about friendship, albeit a very unusual friendship, and Shepard fills the screen with bright, rich colours in order to keep the film visually interesting during the frequently hilarious dialogue. The performances are wonderful and Brosnan relishes the chance to play such an outrageous character. He also gets all the funny lines and there are some terrific laugh-out-loud moments. Kinnear is extremely likeable as perpetual nice-guy Danny and he's the perfect foil for Brosnan, while Hope Davis is on top form as Danny's wife, Bean. Her tipsy scene and her swearing scene are just two of the film's many highlights. In short, The Matador is an engaging black comedy that is frequently hilarious and it is definitely worth seeing for Brosnan's performance alone. Highly recommended.
-- Matthew Turner, View Business. com (UK)

THE MATADOR is a quite funny film about a hit-man that's starting to run out of steam. This is an entertaining film first and foremost. It seemed fairly obvious to me why Brosnan would take on this film: it's the antithesis to Bond. This is what Bond would be in 2005, an aging sex craved killer who's running out of time and realizing he's alone. A very enjoyable and fun film.
-- Karina Longworth, Cinematical

IT'S SORT OF LIKE SIDEWAYS WITH SNIPER RIFLES AND HOOKERS
Pierce Brosnan plays a cheesy, heartbreaking hit man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He befriends regular guy Greg Kinnear for some sad/hilarious male bonding. It's sort of like Sideways with sniper rifles and hookers.
-- E! Entertainment Television Online

MALICIOUSLY FUNNY
Film festival crowds at Sundance and Toronto were entertained and disarmed by this spiky, inventive teaming of a boozy, whoring international assassin in personal crisis (Pierce Brosnan) and a beaten-down businessman (the underrated Greg kinnear). It's an image-busting field day for Brosnan as Julian Noble, a foul-mouthed, bigger-then-life, oddly sympathetic shitheel.
-- Playboy Magazine

A BREEZILY SAVAGE, OCCASIONALLY OBSCENE, POIGNANT CRIME COMEDY
Pierce's surefire hit. While all eyes are fixed on the new James Bond, the old one has pulled off something rather sneaky. Who knows why 52-year-old Pierce Brosnan, after four successful outings, lost his job as the world's most famous spy. But THE MATADOR - a breezily savage, occasionally obscene, poignant crime comedy - is the perfect revenge on his former paymasters. Brosnan excels as hitman Julian Noble, "a magnificently cold moron" (his words) on the verge of a nervous breakdown - lonely, jittery and thus in danger of being replaced by a "younger, cheaper kid". One night, on a job in Mexico, he strikes up a conversation with an unassuming, businessman (Greg Kinnear) and, at a bullfight the next day, teaches him about the perfect kill. Six months later, on a snowy Denver night, we find out whether the lesson hit home. Brosnan has exposed subtle sides before but, thanks to the wonderfully twisty script, he shows something new here. There's no missing the point that elegant tuxedos can turn into straitjackets. Younger, cheaper Daniel Craig may be grabbing the headlines right now, but it's a non-blonde who is having all the fun.
-- Charlotte O'Sullivan, Evening Standard (UK)

THIS MACABRE COMEDY HITS THE BULL'S-EYE
If Pierce Brosnan is going to be saddled with spy-movie baggage, he's determined to buck our expectations and ride into new territory. In "The Tailor of Panama," he was great as a duplicitous diplomat. In THE MATADOR he's even better, as a seedy, needy hit man. He plays Julian, a "facilitator of fatalities" who finds himself friendless in Mexico City. In a hotel bar, he latches on to traveling salesman Danny (Greg Kinnear). When Danny refuses to believe that this tactless drunk is a hit man, Julian takes him on an assignment at a bull- fighting ring. The heady whiff of danger follows Danny home to Denver. When the increasingly unstable Julian arrives unannounced on Christmas Eve, Danny's wife (Hope Davis) is weirdly smitten. By keeping us continually off balance and freeing Brosnan to skewer his own image, this macabre comedy hits the bull's-eye.
-- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post Dispatch

THE MATADOR is a genre-tweaking comedy drama. It’s easy to see why the role appealed to Pierce Brosnan; it’s an attempt to show what could have been in the Bond universe. And what could have been proves to be a lot of fun.. Regardless of who replaces Brosnan as 007, it’s difficult to imagine the next Bond movie being as stylish or well written as this.
-- Clark Collis, Blender Magazine

THE MATADOR is a heartwarming comedy that has a chance to do well at the box office if it finds the right audience. It's an uncommon buddy film starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. The film 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. This is an audience-pleaser through-and-through. Brosnan plays Julian Noble, a burned-out hitman trying to perform a few last jobs before getting out of the business. One night in a Mexico City hotel bar, he encounters businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), and strikes up a conversation. The next day, they meet again, and Julian ends up taking Danny to a bullfight. True confessions ensue, and Julian reveals to Danny that he's an assassin, then gives him a primer on how to kill someone. (This is a lot funnier than it sounds - trust me.) The two part, only to rekindle the friendship a year later when Julian shows up at Danny's Denver home. One of the reasons this film works as well as it does is because Danny doesn't go through the shock/outrage phase when he learns about Julian's profession. He's nonplussed, but takes it in stride. As a result, we get one of the movie's best sequences, in which Julian teaches Danny the tricks of his trade as they go on a mock hit. Another wonderful scene occurs later, when Julian shows up in Denver and Danny's wife (Hope Davis) wants to see his gun. In addition, there's a moment reminiscent of the boulder scene in Sexy Beast, except in this case the object is a tree instead of a big rock. Brosnan plays the role with a kind of manic energy more appropriate to Basil Fawlty than James Bond. Kinnear is the straight man. Together, these two make an appealing pair - something that's mandatory for the story to work. They're an odd couple, to be sure, but each fills a need for the other. It can be difficult to find the right mix of comedy and drama in a movie of this nature, but Shepard does a solid job. There's nothing edgy or groundbreaking about THE MATADOR, but it's funny, touching, and ultimately endearing - and it's tough to ask more of this sort of film.
-- James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The role of Julian Noble, the professional hit-man at the centre of THE MATADOR- or "facilitator of fatalities," as he describes himself -is played for laughs and with tongue admirably in cheek by Pierce Brosnan. Noble is jaded and losing his touch when, on an assignment in Mexico City, he encounters a US businessman (Greg Kinnear) longing for a break. That chance meeting changes both their lives in director Richard Shepard's spirited, briskly paced yarn, featuring Brosnan in the wittiest, most self-effacing performance of his career. Wearing a moustache that would be more appropriate on a 1970s porn star, he shrugs off a compliment about his appearance with the line "I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning, after the navy's left town." In another scene, as he strides nonchalantly in black Speedos and leather boots through a busy hotel lobby, Brosnan puts his James Bond days firmly and finally behind him.
-- Michael Dwyer, Irish Times

THE MATADOR IS AN UNUSUALLY COMIC AND MOVING HIT MAN THRILLER
-- Los Angeles Daily News

THE MATADOR IS AS ENTERTAINING AND FUNNY A MOVIE AS I SAW ALL WEEK AT THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL
Brosnan is great, in a role that feels like a sly send-up of his James Bond persona, and the supporting players (the busy Hope Davis and the peerless Philip Baker Hall) are just as good.
-- Kevin Canfield, The Journal News

THE MATADOR IS A POPCORN FLICK WITH HEART
You don't need any tequila to enjoy this movie.
-- Mark Daniell, Jam Movies

THE MATADOR is the story of hitman Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan in an absolutely electric performance) who's a little burned out and befriends businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) in Mexico City and realizes that he's his only friend. The movie proves to be humorous, surprising, energetic, and intelligent enough to elevate a familiar basic premise to something extremely enjoyable. The writing is sharp and witty, filled with hilarious moments of surprise, discomfort, and depression. Perhaps the landmark iconic scene in the film, where Brosnan walks through a hotel lobby in his underwear and boots into a swimming pool, comes together with a near-perfect combination of music, direction, and Brosnan's performance. This is a real showcase role for Pierce Brosnan and he fills it tremendously well, making me think about what each one of his James Bond movies could have been The reset of the cast fills the movie out nicely, Greg Kinnear in good-acting mode rather than annoying-prick mode that he sometimes slips into with his typical characters, and Hope Davis bringing a lot to her role as the wife Bean. After Kinnear and Brosnan meet for this intense few days down in Mexio City, the movie cuts to six months later where Kinnear has grown a brosnan-esque mustache and we see the effect of strong>Pierce Brosnan's character on him. The energy that somehow transfers when you meet someone exactly opposite of you is a really cool thread through the second half of the film. There's a lot of tension in the film even though director Richard Shepard refuses to show us the traditionally tense moments in a hitman film. We already know all that stuff, we've seen important men taken out by sniper fire hundreds of times. Instead, he works on that audience knowledge to create tension on the possibility of those traditional moments rearing their ugly heads. Uh oh, two characters are talking in front of an open window, will a bullet come through there right before they divulge important information? The movie plays masterfully well with those ideas and keeps you engaged until the credits roll. So in summation, I liked this movie a lot. It was great fun and I really hope it does well so the Broccoli family will see what they have wasted with what could have been the best Bond since Connery.
-- Cinema Strikes Back.com

THE MATADOR IS LOST IN TRANSLATION SET IN MEXICO CITY WITH GREG KINNEAR IN THE SCARLETT JOHANSSON ROLE
-- Ruth Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

THE MATADOR is MADLY POPULAR -- Seattle Weekly

MADE WAVES -- NY Daily News

5 OUT OF 5 STARS -- Ain't it Cool News

BROSNAN IS VERY FUNNY -- NY Post

BEST SIGHT GAG FROM FILMS AT SUNDANCE: PIERCE BROSNAN CLAD ONLY IN A BLACK SPEEDO AND MATCHING ANKLE BOOTS MARCHING DRUNKENLY THROUGH A HOTEL IN THE LARKY COMIC THRILLER THE MATADOR -- People Magazine

CHIEF AMONG THE FILM'S PLEASURES IS A DELICIOUSLY UNINHIBITED PERFORMANCE BY PIERCE BROSNAN -- Screen International

THE MATADOR IS ODDLY AND DARKLY FUNNY WITH A HINT OF SADNESS. BROSNAN IS A DELIGHT -- E Insiders

THE BEST FILM I SAW AT SUNDANCE -- SportsIllustrated.com