Product: Tailor of Panama [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 4.0
Wit and style from a very good Tailor!
The Tailor of Panama is a smart, talky, clever character-based spy thriller. It's not a film loaded with action however. It is based on John le Carre's 1996 novel which was very much inspired and somewhat derivative of Graham Greene's satric spy novel: Our Man in Havana (which became a 1960 film starring Alec Guinness). The tone of Tailor fluctuates between an almost straight spy thriller and black comedy in sometimes unexpected and less than seamless ways. This will probably baffle some viewers who won't be able to shift quickly enough or accept that at times.Andy Osnard (Brosnan) is a British ( MI6 ) spy who has just about ruined his career by getting caught having scandalous affairs and not quite having the panache', charm, skill or charisma of James Bond. (Yes, the film if very aware and plays with the casting coup it enjoys by having the new 007 play this anti-Bond character in several ways--there's even a reference to Sean Connery if you're particularly observant).Andy is sent to Panama to lay low. Andy doesn't know how to lay low and is itching to prove himself and become an important agent--at least at first. Andy finds a local tailor named Harry Pendel (Rush) who has a secret past that Andy knows about and before long, Harry is telling Andy some spy stories.Harry has carved out a nice niche' for himself in Panama and has a pretty wife (Jaimie Lee Curtis) and two young children. He is a very able and skilled tailor and has gotten himself into too much debt by using his mistresses inheritance to buy a farm. Hobnobbing with all of the power brokers and older land-owners gives Harry some degree of prestige, but first and foremost he's a skilled tailor who can be trusted by his customers.Andy soon realizes Harry's stories aren't completely true...but Andyh can still broker the information and improve his stature.. Then, almost by accident, Harry begins to spin a yarn so good, that Andy knows just how to leverage the information so that he can in essence extort at least 15 million from the Americans. And maybe he'll just take the money and runThere are lot of complications to the extortion plot. And things become riskier and more dangerous.Geoffrey Rush is very good here. He has less bravura in this role but is just as effective in his characterization here as he has been when he is expected to chew the scenery. Brosnan plays a character that has some similarities to his James Bond but has far less class, skill and ethics than Bond does. It's fun to watch particularly since as the film progresses we come to realize he is not the flawed good guy we are basically introduced at the beginning of the film. It works a little better than it would have because he is Pierce Brosnan who is known to audiences as 007. Brosnan isn't nearly the actor Rush is but most of the time he does very well. Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent and you believe that Rush and Curtis have been comfortably married for several years. A difficult to recognize Brendan Gleeson plays his role with the kind of gusto and energy we saw Al Pacino bring to Tony (Scarface) Montano. It doesn't quite become parody, but it's a performance that jumps too far out at you and is un-balanced. Another nice touch is having playwright/ occasional actor Harold Pinter turn up in a small role.The film eventually portrays the spy and diplomat business as pretty much a big farce in which con-men and seasoned opportunist can manipulate some degree of power and wealth by playing at espionage. The plot itself is really just one elaborate joke. It's not the kind of joke you laugh out loud at, and it doesn't quite pay-off in the way you might think it will.In the end, The Tailor of Panama is too derivative of Graham Greene and a bit too slight of a film to be considered one of the best of its genre. . . but it's actually something very worthwhile. It's surprisingly well-made and offers several layers to enjoy. Most will probably find themselves enjoying it more on their second of third viewing.The DVD quality is very good but not quite top-notch. When a disc is called special edition you expect to see a presentation that is way above average and a disc that is loaded with extras. This is dissapointing in that regard. It's a good package and not over-priced however.Among the extras is An alternate ending. Some will probably like the alternate ending more than varies in tone and spirit a great deal from the way the film currently ends is included. It's very interesting how drastically different this ending of the film is from the one that was ultimately decided upon. I like the ending used in the film much better than this one, but neither are complete audience pleasers.The Disc also included a 25 minute conversation with the lead actors called: The Perfect Fit: A Conversation with Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush. Writer-Director John Boorman's feature length commentary is very dry, but informative and contains very detailed information about the production of the film and many details about why certain decisions were made regarding the source novel.Put this one on your list to see if you like smart, clever, films with richly drawn characters. While it may not deliver exactly the kind of excitement you are expecting, it does deliver wit, and good performances.Christopher Jarmick,is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller.