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—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
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The Matador (2005)

tomatometer

76

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 147
Fresh: 111 | Rotten: 36

This humorously amoral, oddball comic thriller features strong performances by Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear as a flamboyant, aging hit-man and an out of work suburban businessman, respectively.

68

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 11

This humorously amoral, oddball comic thriller features strong performances by Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear as a flamboyant, aging hit-man and an out of work suburban businessman, respectively.

audience

58

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 73,098

My Rating

Movie Info

A chance meeting between two middle-aged men leads one into a life of crime in this offbeat comedy. Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) is an American businessman whose life has been going through a sour patch after he and his wife, Carolyn (Hope Davis), lost their young son. During a business trip to Mexico City, Danny strikes up a conversation in a hotel bar with fellow out-of-towner Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan), and while Julian's loud and brassy manner initially puts Danny off, in time the two

Jul 4, 2006

$12.4M

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Cast

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All Critics (157) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (111) | Rotten (36) | DVD (26)

... a dark comedy that is missing the laughs to be funny and the darkness to be, well, dark.

January 27, 2006 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Never as good as you'd hoped or as bad as you'd feared, The Matador is one of those of up-and-down experiences.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Let the good times roll, and take a run at The Matador.

January 14, 2006 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic
Arizona Republic
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It's painful to watch as the movie basically destroys itself in the second half, slipping from its elegant thriller setup to tired sitcom shenanigans.

January 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[A] really, really strong film.

January 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Unevenly paced yet darkly funny and consistently intriguing.

January 6, 2006 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Absurd and quirky at times, The Matador plays like a "Bizarro World" variation of a James Bond film. It's beautifully shot, strange and deeply meaningful.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: IGN DVD
IGN DVD

Brosnan's sleazy, broken-spirited hitman Julian Noble nabs the spotlight in Richard Shepard's generally pleasing comic thriller.

August 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Writer
Cinema Writer

...a hip and hilarious dark comedy.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com
BrandonFibbs.com

Brosnan's work as a monster who'd like to become human, but has no idea how, is painfully funny.

September 27, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

A chemistry-free buddy flick.

July 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine
Upstage Magazine

Get past the stunt casting, and The Matador has very little to offer, despite all the hubbub surrounding it.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

But the gold star here goes to Brosnan. His performance digs deep into Julian's soul and it is that depth that makes the performance stand out.

December 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Nolan's Pop Culture Review

in an ideal world, The Matador would be the movie to watch on a late Friday afternoon to start relaxing for the weekend

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses
Movies for the Masses

... it does give Brosnan a chance to show his comic skills in an edgy comedy that is perhaps not dark enough for the subject matter.

August 9, 2006
Atlantic City Weekly

Thrives on its sleazeball hero being so colorful that you forget its thin, vacuous, amoral and improbable hit man story.

July 11, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Brosnan is performing his own high-wire act here, daring us not to like his sleazy, vulgar, insensitive, immoral character.

July 6, 2006 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

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.

July 4, 2006
Reel.com

An amusing and original comedy that skips along with the quirky, charismatic shake-shake-shake of maracas.

May 4, 2006 Full Review Source: Metromix.com
Metromix.com

Ole! for this off-kilter buddy pic with a darker side.

March 14, 2006 Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Pierce Brosnan oferece, aqui, um dos melhores desempenhos de sua carreira.

March 11, 2006
Cinema em Cena

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.

March 11, 2006 Full Review Source: FilmFocus

A strangely funny dark comedy with Hitchcockian overtones.

February 19, 2006 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope
Laramie Movie Scope

It's quirky (everyone says so, but it's absolutely accurate) and chock full of real live heart and truth and human connection.

February 18, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinerina

Even though it's a little too enamored with its edge and so obviously symbolic it could be called "The Metaphor," Brosnan is at his best, and the movie's got more on its mind than guns, giggles and a weenie-meets-warrior vibe.

February 16, 2006 Full Review

The Matador is a delight. Brosnan displays a wonderful flair for comedy, while Kinnear is perfectly in tune as his shocked, straight-arrow foil.

February 6, 2006 Full Review
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Audience Reviews for The Matador

I had high hopes for this film; unfortunately it didn't do it for me. I was very disappointed with the film. I felt that the film was way too long and took too much time to get to the point. Even with a great cast, The Matador is a mediocre film that has nothing really interesting going for it. I thought the film could have been much better and it had plenty of wasted potential. I didn't like the film, and was quite forgettable to be honest. This film really could have been a great film, but I felt that the script really didn't have anything really remarkable about it. The Matador is a long film that is just boring, not even the great cast can save this film from being bad. I really couldn't get into this film, and I felt it could have been much better than what it turned out to be. This is just an overrated film where there's nothing going on-screen. The film missed the mark, and wasn't entertaining. This film could have been much better, but it fails because it's too boring. As far as the comedy is concerned, I didn't see anything funny about it, and it just failed at being enjoyable, funny and memorable. The Matador is forgettable and it just doesn't have anything worth mentioning. I think it's too bad because the cast was great, but the films plot, I felt didn't work. I didn't like this one, and though not awful, it's simply not very good either.
July 1, 2012
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

Julian Noble is a jaded and lonely hitman going through a mid-life crisis. Danny Wright is a mild mannered salesman whose business is struggling. They meet one another in a chance encounter while on business trips in Mexico City and from there the two form an unlikely and awkward friendship that begins to have a profound effect on them.

If the image of a moustachioed Pierce Brosnan wearing cowboy boots and a speedo intrigues you, then this is a movie for you. Brosnan is delightful as Julian, and you can tell he's having fun making little jabs at his tenure as James Bond. As Danny, Greg Kinnear makes for a solid foil against Brosnan's Julian, and he's good, though overshadowed. Hope Davis is also rather funny as Danny's loving wife who reacts to Julian in a surprisingly funny way.

The film is a dark comedy, with some elements of action and intrigue, and it mostly works, but even then, the tone is all over the place, and it seems difficult to sometiems tell what the film wants to be. It's still pretty agreeable and very entertaining though. The story isn't spectacular, but the performances and likeability of the characters make it work.

If you want something fun and different, then check this out.
April 16, 2007
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

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  • The Matador (2006) (CA)
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