Buddy movies over the edge

This week brings three movies in which their main characters lead debauched lives that ultimately result in their undoing and, in at least two of their cases, tragically shortened lives. The third is pure fiction.

The movies are the darkly comic hit-man thriller "The Matador," the wildly scandalous "The Libertine" and the morbidly depressing "Stoned."
Well, make of it what you will. Choices and consequences play out in a particularly heavy theme this week.

In the clever and unpredictable comic thriller "The Matador" (Genius/Weinstein, 3 stars), Pierce Brosnan is a foul, bitter, lonely, crude and burned-out assassin, named Bond. James Bond.

Wait! Wait! I'm kidding. His name is Julian Noble.

But if you knew that, he'd have to kill you. And don't think he wouldn't - if he could stop hallucinating long enough to pull the trigger.

Honestly, I don't know the timing on this but Brosnan plays this guy just as you'd imagine if you were kicked to the curb and told you were too old to play James Bond and that a younger, less pretty and sophisticated chap would be taking your place.

Oh, the pain and humiliation. Someone's gonna die for it.

While on a job in Mexico City, Julian bumps into an American salesman in the hotel bar and strikes up a passing friendship that goes badly from the start.

The American, Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) is anxiously awaiting the outcome of a sales pitch - the make-or-break pitch of his career - and welcomes the conversation. Sort of. Julian is abrasive, condescending and crude. But Danny has that ingrained middle-class aversion to offending strangers and so endures Julian's behavior and hasty apologies when the line gets crossed.

Over the next two days, the two men sort of hang out - go to a bullfight, for one thing - and Julian, against all instincts, confides his profession to Danny who, being from Denver, is incredulous to the point of annoyance. Until Julian walks him step-by-step through an execution.

With a mix of horror and fascination, Danny hangs in there. Julian explains a bit about the art of corporate execution and the loneliness of living out of a suitcase. When Julian seeks his help in carrying out a last-minute assignment though, Danny signals that he's had enough.

"Just consider me the best cocktail story you've ever met," says Julian bitterly.

And that's that. Sort of. So we think.

Six months later, Julian ends up on the wintry doorstep of Danny's Denver home. It's Christmastime and, yes, Julian has obviously become the best cocktail story Danny's ever told. He even now sports a mustache just like Julian's.

Into the wee hours of the morning, Julian, Danny and Danny's wife Carolyn (Hope Davis, seen all too little in this film) dance an awkward social dance.

"What are you doing here, Julian?" asks an unusually assertive Danny.

"I ... don't know," replies Julian, eventually adding "You're the only family I have."

Julian's botched jobs have made him a marked man. He's got one more job to do to save his skin and be able to retire but he can't do it without Danny's help.

"Besides," says Julian, "You owe me." That Danny doesn't argue leaves us more than a little surprised. Maybe he doesn't tell quite the whole story at those cocktail parties.

"The Matador" isn't typical popular fare and Brosnan's Julian walks a shaky line between tragicomic and pathetic. There is a slightly dangerous edge hinted at through the entire movie that may distract some. But in the end it's all good stuff and - if nothing else - you're glad that you aren't the guy who bumped into Julian in a bar. Or maybe you wish you were ...

The DVD has nearly a dozen cut scenes, two audio commentaries and a making-of feature.

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"The Libertine" (Genius/Weinstein, 2 1/2 stars) It is all about biting the hand that feeds you. The ever-amazing Johnny Depp is the scandalous 17th century playwright John Wilmot who enjoys the patronage of King Charles II (John Malkovich). Wilmot amuses the king with bawdy plays that make sport of London society. In turn, Wilmot leads a rock star life of debauchery and indulgence.

It feeds his muse: "I wish to be moved. I cannot feel in life," says Wilmot. "I must have others do it for me in theater."

Wilmot is undone on two counts: He falls for his leading-lady protege, Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton), and he writes a particularly bawdy play that takes aim at jolly King Charlie. His fall is swift. His end, tragic. His lines, memorable.

Like the man himself, this production is bold, brazen and skewed to shock your sensibilities.

Crossing paths: "Libertine" actors Tom Hollander and Jack Davenport are also in Depp's upcoming sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." Also, Hollander was in "Pride & Prejudice" with "Libertine" actresses Kelly Reilly and Rosamund Pike. And, of course, Keira Knightley has starring roles in "Pride & Prejudice" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

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"Stoned" (Screen Media Films, 2 stars) Co-founder of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones died at age 27. Some would say tragically young. Others would say right on schedule.

There is a cachet to dying before your time. It has made Jones a legend well beyond the value of his early contributions to the enduring rock 'n' roll band that still goes through the motions, sustained by ever larger and more elaborate stage settings that attempt to distract from the senior-citizen status of the band mates.

But this movie isn't really about the Stones. It is a miserable slog through the even-more-miserable final chapters in the life of Brian Jones.

"Stoned" hardly enhances the legend. It portrays Jones (Leo Gregory) as a young man for whom no temptation was too small to be overlooked. His obsession with all things forbidden kicked into high gear with the introduction of Anita Pallenberg (Monet Mazur), a willing co-conspirator until Jones started smacking her around outside the organized game play.

Jones could be a mean drunk, but mostly he seems to have been a comatose drunk. Same with drugs. He didn't have the control or staying power of his mates, which contributed to their booting him out.

Just the same, he'd use people and abuse people and, like any addict, let down those who counted on him the most. The band could show up for gigs and recording sessions in all stages of altered states and still function, mostly. Not Brian.

Well, that and Brian's inflexible belief that the band ought to be a blues-based rock band. The other chaps had more commercial ambitions into which Brian did not figure. He became largely useless in the bigger business picture that is the Rolling Stones. And an embarrassment.

He was found floating face down in his swimming pool. But that was no accident, according to the movie. It was Jones's inept handyman-whipping boy-gofer Frank Thorogood (the talented Paddy Considine from "In America") who done him in. So says the movie. And Thorogood's own deathbed confession.

Director/producer Stephen Woolley spent 10 years exhuming the details behind the death of Brian Jones, then he was forced to make this film on the cheap and post-haste. Kind of makes you wonder what might have been. Even as it doesn't leave you wondering what the life of Brian Jones might have been.

ALSO THIS WEEK

"Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School" (Sony, 2 1/2 stars) The sad and lonely life of Frank Keane (Robert Carlyle) changes dramatically when he stops at the site of a car crash to aid a dying victim. The man (John Goodman) was en route to a 40-year reunion with his childhood sweetheart. Keane tells the man he'll fulfill his appointment. Which is how he finds himself at the Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. This charming romantic tale is a continuation of a short film of the same name by the director, Randall Miller, and even incorporates some of the original film as flashbacks. (Joshua Horowitz is in both films as Kenny Dulin). The stunning cast, besides the talented Carlyle and Goodman, includes Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Danny DeVito, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, Camryn Manheim and many more.

IT CAME FROM TV

"Charlie's Angels" (Sony, season 3, six discs, 24 episodes) In season three, the lineup was the same as the previous year - Cheryl Ladd, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith. But Farah Fawcett's celebrated Jill Munroe returns for three episodes. This year, the Angels go to Las Vegas (guests Dean Martin and Robert "Vegas" Urich), go undercover as cheerleaders, run a marathon, teach at a girl's boarding school and outwit a group of fake "Angels." With this debut, we sadly note the recent passing of show creator Aaron Spelling. The man knew the taste of the masses.

"Doctor Who: The Complete First Series" (BBC Video, five discs, 13 episodes) Long before there was a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the mysterious Doctor Who was skipping through time and the universe rescuing whole planets and civilizations from imminent disaster. The original series dates back to 1963 and recently saw this revival (now airing on the Sci-Fi Channel). It is brighter, slicker and certainly modernized, but the spirit remains refreshingly true to the long line of Doctor Whos (at least seven).

© Copley News Service