This was preceded for me by a couple of pretty formulaic efforts, so it was nice to see something in which the people making the film made an effort to do something different and interesting. Its not a big, ambitious film, but its good at what it does, and funny and enjoyable as a result.

Hope Davis should get more recognition for her role. her scenes in the begining in the kitchen and at the end with the booze and bronzeman(?) seem to ‘bookend’ the movie and set off the respective ‘manly’ journeys.

On the surface The Matador seems like a fairly formulaic buddy thriller with comedic elements, but the performances by the leads, especially Peirce Brosnan, bring a comedic element to it, so overall it’s a dark comedy about the characters. Skillfully directed by Richard Shepard, it dives straight into a delightfully amoral world as it tells the story of an unlikely friendship. It took a few scenes for me to get into the film as it has a fairly unique rhythm and once you figure it out, it’s a lot of fun.

Still waiting for Underworld: Evolution which comes out next weekend, left the very slim pickings for a movie this weekend. But Fandango pointed me to this new one from Pierce and it looked interesting. A middle aged contract killer who looses his grove. Entertaining and very funny. I rate 3 of 5 stars. Worth seeing in theatres.