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The Tailor of Panama (2001)

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Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 112
Fresh: 86 | Rotten: 26

The Tailor of Panama is a smart, darkly satirical thriller with exuberant performances from Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush.

Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 3

The Tailor of Panama is a smart, darkly satirical thriller with exuberant performances from Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush.

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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 11,331

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Movie Info

Set amidst the controversy of the handover of the Panama Canal from America to Panama in late 1999, this espionage thriller follows seductive British spy Andrew Osnard (Pierce Brosnan), who has found himself recently banished to Panama. When Osnard stumbles into a tailor shop, he meets Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush), a garrulous sort with an unmatched penchant for "fluence" -- that is, fabricating wild tales with real-life details. Osnard threatens to expose his shady past, until Pendel agrees to

R, 1 hr. 49 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Directed By: John Boorman

Written By: Andrew Davies, John Boorman

In Theaters: Mar 30, 2001 Wide

On DVD: Sep 11, 2001

Box Office:$13.1M

Columbia Pictures

If you think the spy-thriller genre has been streamlined and spoofed and subverted until nothing new can be done to it, think again.

September 26, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Magazine

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Peter Rainer

New York Magazine

Top Critic

Seems diligently assembled.

May 2, 2001 Comment

Stanley Kauffmann

New Republic

Top Critic

Elegant, sophisticated and very funny in a sly, subtle, wordy way.

April 23, 2001 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee

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Joe Baltake

Sacramento Bee

Top Critic

A literate and entertaining comic thriller.

April 20, 2001 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

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Eric Harrison

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

A wise, vivid, thoughtfully textured film.

April 20, 2001 Full Review Source: Detroit News

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Susan Stark

Detroit News

Top Critic

[Boorman] manages to strike exactly the right tone, which is somewhere between irony and amused incredulity.

April 20, 2001 Comment

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

Top Critic

Not a great movie -- for adults only.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Ellen MacKay

Common Sense Media

Director John Boorman (The Emerald Forest) has given us another fantasy-shattering glimpse into a world that's so far apart from our own.

July 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Funny, frisky and always on the right side of plausible. Mission accomplished.

February 13, 2004 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

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Harry Guerin

RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

I had forgotten that thrillers could possibly be this much fun and rippingly intelligent at the same time.

July 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

It doesn't feel like a normal espionage thriller; it feels much, much better.

August 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Flipside Movie Emporium

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Rob Vaux

Flipside Movie Emporium

A broad, ribald circus flagrantly in love with the English language, The Tailor bustles with swaggering, jubilant showmanship.

August 10, 2002 Comment

Sean Burns

Philadelphia Weekly

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Audience Reviews for The Tailor of Panama

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I really don't think this does John le Carre's novel any justice at all but who would have thought John Boorman would have messed it up!? Geoffrey Rush is very good as always but apart from Harold Pinter in an inspired bit of casting, it is a bad day in the office for everyone concerned. A really interesting story but

December 15, 2010