"The Matador" *** (out of four): Pierce Brosnan hits the mark as an assassin losing his cool in writer-director Richard Shepard's refreshingly smart comedy.

As a kid in 1986, I remember being very angry that Pierce Brosnan couldn’t get out of his “Remington Steele” contract to play James Bond. I felt Mr. Brosnan, then 33, would be perfect for the role of the famed British super spy. Finally nine years later, after two forgettable Timothy Dalton Bond entries, Mr. Brosnan landed the role. While the four Brosnan Bond movies were improvements, they never quite hit the heights for which I thought he was destined. When I heard the role recently went to Daniel Craig, I felt there was a missed opportunity in the Bond franchise for that one great Brosnan Bond movie. Little did I know that all this time Mr. Brosnan has been working his way up to the role of assassin Julian Noble in writer-director Richard Shepard’s comedy “The Matador”.

Read More on BigPictureBigSound...