THE TAILOR OF PANAMA

2001

What director John Boorman and author John LeCarre have done, is turn the entire espionage genre inside out, and come up with a fine film that is part spoof of the genre, and part actual.spy thriller. In a brilliant piece of casting against type, Pierce Brosnan is cast as the "anti-Bond," an immoral, unscrupulous, sleezebag of a former spy, who is forced to take a demotion to a post in post-Noriega Panama, because of past indiscretions in the field. There, he contrives to meet the tailor of the title, who is both less and more than what he appears to be. With a simple lie, the two men set in motion a convoluted plot that snowballs into an avalanche. The tailor and his wife are played expertly by Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brosnan is perfect as the conniving, self-serving spy. If you like novels by LeCarre (who steals shamelessly here, from Graham Greene,) and spy spoofs (such as Bogart's classic "Beat the Devil,) then you'll really enjoy this movie, even though it bogs down somewhat in the middle. Panama, with its colorful barrios, "cocaine towers," and grand Canal, is a very picturesque and exotic setting for a fun/serious film.

4 Stars

NJB

Pierce Brosnan is a British spy who bribes tailor-to-the-rich-and-powerful-who-is-short-on-cash, Geoffrey Rush, to get him information. Having no real information to give, Rush begins giving Brosnan false information that utterly leads to chaos and lots of people trying to get out of Panama. This film starts off very smart and stylish, with good dialogue and interesting plot development. Brosnan basically plays James Bond gone to the dark side and Rush is excellent even as he lays on the heavy corny "tailor humor." What begins strong turns silly and slightly absurd in the second half and the ending seems like someone was pushing just to get this one done. I liked this one probably more than I'm letting on, but I think its a rental.

3.5 Stars

CDF