DVD The best buddy films have an undeniable chemistry based on the notion that opposites attract.
Watching the easy chemistry of Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear in “The Matador” brings to mind some of the other great buddy pairings of the past few decades.
Like the best of odd couple movies, “The Matador” (available today on DVD, $28.95) builds on opposites: Brosnan is a formerly dashing international assassin now gone to seed. He leers in all directions, but the gun isn’t loaded, if you catch the drift.
Kinnear is a Denver-based businessman with a quiet home life and a confidence gap. They each admire something in the other, though at least one of them is wise enough to know they shouldn’t swap lives.
In buddy flicks such as these, the alpha male wants to settle down, and the domesticated male wants to get in touch with his wild side. Together, the partners make one whole personality, and the viewer can probe his own brain to see which traits need more time in the spotlight.
“The Matador” will be a pleasure to anyone who enjoyed the arch bickering between Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin in “Midnight Run,” a classic marriage of buddy-pig and road movie.
“Planes, Trains and Automobiles” also puts an odd couple on the road, emphasizing the physical comedy of John Candy and Steve Martin more than the action-intrigue of “Matador” or “Midnight Run.” “Sideways” gave the comic road trip more angst, and a lot more alcohol, as Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church resist the world’s demands that they grow up.
The original “Lethal Weapon” peppered the odd couple formula with heavy-caliber police gunfire, pitting Mel Gibson’s antics against Danny Glover’s unremitting exasperation.
But of course the standard for modern pal pictures was reset in 1969, with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Robert Redford and Paul Newman seemed to have so much fun making the horse opera, we couldn’t help but love watching it.
In a commentary recorded with Brosnan and Kinnear, “Matador” writer-director Richard Shepard explains that the first scene he penned set two wildly different characters at a bar, long before he had a plot. Shepard said he had no idea Brosnan’s character would be an assassin when he started writing; he only knew the man’s habit of speaking outrageous truths to relative strangers would both alarm and intrigue Kinnear’s character.
A bonus with “Matador” is an artistic sensibility few other odd-couple movies bother to attempt. Cinematographer David Tattersall, who previously shot two “Star Wars” and “The Green Mile,” makes “The Matador” pop and snap with color. Tattersall’s admiring eye for the modern, energetic spots of Mexico City will make you want to sip a margarita south of the border – even if you have to drink alone.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or booth@denverpost.cam.
