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The Tailor of Panama is a movie that both plays on its British heritage as well as one of that country's most famous exports--James Bond. Set in modern-day Panama, it stars Geoffrey Rush as Harry, an elegant British tailor who caters to that country's elite. Pierce Brosnan is a disgraced British spy named Osnard, who's been sent to Central America to get him out of the way. Osnard isn't willing to go away that easily, however, and he uses Harry's somewhat unsavory past to extort information from him. The problem is that Harry doesn't really have any information, so instead he starts making things up. His initial stories are fairly tame, but soon his fabrications are spinning out of control and onto the front pages.

Director John Boorman (The General), working from a John le Carre script, is clearly out to tweak the James Bond myth. In a fantastic bit of casting, he uses the best Bond of the last 25 years as his British spy. But Brosnan easily sheds that character's suave sophistication and noble patriotism for much baser qualities. Yes, Osnard might still wear expensive suits, but his only concerns are with scoring some easy money and easier women. He intentionally lives in a brothel and relishes the perverted porn playing on his television. He leers at every woman around, including Harry's wife (Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies). And though he still has the Bondian wit, his sexual puns have a much coarser (and funnier) tone. As he opens a safe, he remarks to a female co-worker, "It was open, just tight from lack of use."

Osnard is smart enough to know that Harry is making everything up, but spying is just a game to Osnard; and this is one could be very lucrative. Which means he's willing to sacrifice everyone around him, including good guys Mickie (Brendan Gleeson, The General) and Marta (Leonor Varela, Man in the Iron Mask). Harry is soon overwhelmed by Osnard's machinations, and it's all he can do to keep his marriage together.

The Tailor of Panama fits into Boorman's fixation with anti-heroes, who have popped up in everything from his early classic Point Blank to his Cannes-winning The General. That doesn't always make for happy audiences, however. Though I enjoyed Tailor's sharp dialogue, interesting character interactions, and compelling Panama locations, I found the gratuitous nudity and cynicism to be considerably off-putting. And I suspect some moviegoers will recoil from the film's dark tone. It's sophisticated adult fare, but it's certainly not a crowd-pleaser. 

J. Robert Parks 4/14/2001