WHAT WE SAY Hollywood has a way of taking sly literary humour and making it universal and sloppy, and The Tailor of Panama is no exception. Brosnan plays a British agent named Andy Osnard, a sort of anti-James Bond who has finally seduced the wife of one diplomat too many and been sentenced to the purgatory of Panama, where is he now supposed to provide intelligence on ways to muck up the planned return of the canal to Panamanian administration. Osnard immediately homes in on Geoffrey Rush's character, a prosperous tailor named Harry Pendel, and proceeds to make his life miserable. Osnard makes him an offer he tries to refuse.
Sincerity is a virtue.
Meanwhile, the story slowly starts to slip out of Boorman's grasp. Le Carre's novel was a pitch-black dark comedy, but Boorman's usually subtle touch seems to have abandoned him, and the result tries to be all things to all people.