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Let’s test your movie knowledge a bit…. “The Tailor of
Panama” has elements of several other films including “Wag the
Dog”, “The Mouse That Roared”, “Scoundrels”,
“Dr. Strangelove” and “The Little Tailor.”
If you are familiar with those movies and a Graham Greene
novel or two (Our Man in Havana, The Captain and the Enemy), you
have the flavor of the John Boorman directed film.
For those of you who failed the quiz above, “The Tailor of
Panama” is a sly, amusing, colorful little movie. I say “little” despite the fact that it stars fairly big
names (Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush) as it
has the pleasant feel of a local theater production.
That is not intended as a negative, but to point out how
the actors seemed to be pleased to be performing an entertainment.
They seemed to be drawing the audience up close to share a
mischievous spy tale.
Andy Osnard (Brosnen)
is a bored, devilish English spy with MI6 who is sent to Panama as
a punishment for his past gambling, womanizing and other sins.
Harry Pendel (Rush) is a Panama tailor with a secret past.
It turns out that he too is bored but it seems he did not
realize it until the start of the story.
Louisa (Curtis) is Pendel’s wife who works for the Panama
Canal Commission who is simply boring. Jamie Lee’s typically stiff performance nearly ruins the
film for me. Everyone
else is in sync, but Jamie Lee just seems like a misplaced piece
of scenery. Her role is an important one, and she does absolutely nothing
to make it work.
I really do not want to say too much about the plot, as I
think a good part of the film’s value is in seeing how all the
pieces weave together throughout.
But I will tell you that the film takes us to present day
Panama. It seems like a pleasant enough place, until Osnard
arrives like the serpent in Eden to stir up old political
emotions, suspicions, greed, lust, corruption, and just about all
the deadly sins. Sounds
like Osnard is a
terrible cad doesn’t he? Well
I guess he is, but he does it with such wry humor and a
delightfully grimy style that all involved almost seem relieved to
be able to follow his lead into corruption.
The ending leaves a lot to be desired and some of the politics are
difficult to follow unless you are well versed in Panamanian
history. However, to
me, “Tailor” is what a movie should be as it takes us to a
different world, introduces us to a large number of interesting
characters, has a pretty good plot with clever dialog, and tosses
in an amusing surprise or two.
Recommendation:
“The Tailor of Panama” is an amusing low key spy / con
man movie. It
is not really a comedy, and it is not really a spy thriller, but
it is entertaining and I feel that was the director’s goal.
Should you go out of your way to make sure you see it?
Is it a memorable film?
“No” on both counts, but it is an interesting escape
for 2 hours.
-- Pappy
( 3 out of 4 pops
)
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about this film with other Popkorn Junkies |
