PIERCE Brosnan clearly enjoyed himself making his latest movie, The Matador. It s a strange, eccentric comedy that allows him to really get into his role and send up his old James Bond persona. He plays an ageing professional assassin, who is going throu

PIERCE Brosnan clearly enjoyed himself making his latest movie, The Matador.

It's a strange, eccentric comedy that allows him to really get into his role and send up his old James Bond persona.

He plays an ageing professional assassin, who is going through something of a booze-sodden breakdown as he plans the end of his career. While on a job in Mexico, he gets chatting to Greg Kinnear's mid-Western all-round nice guy salesman and the two spark up a bizarre friendship.

When Brosnan takes Kinnear to see a bullfight he reveals what it is he does for a living and even gives his new friend a mock demonstration of his techniques. Things take a twist when some time later Brosnan turns up at Kinnear's all-American home.

The two leads are both very good, with Kinnear very much cast in the straight man role, while Hope Davis, as Kinnear's wife, is every bit their equal.

It's sharply written and directed and pleasing to see something a bit quirky getting made.

While it may not be quite up to the standards of the Coen brothers it does have a similar feel to some of their work and that should be recommendation enough.