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91Energetic and inventive, it's a satirical, smart, grown-up thriller.
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88A real movie, rich and atmospheric, savoring its disreputable characters and their human weaknesses.
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88Like a Bach toccata or a frosty drink on a sunlit veranda, a first-class movie spy thriller can offer one of life's cooler, more elegant treats. The Tailor of Panama fits that category.
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88Brosnan turns his typical talent on its head. So does director Boorman, who forsakes his usual tingling virtuosity.
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83In a world full of off the rack thrillers, it's fine boutique quality.
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80A sophisticated, subtle adult entertainment that is also a compliment to the audience.
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80The film starts out as a freewheeling farce and turns into a pitch-black burlesque with surprising depths of feeling.
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80A cut above last season's best studio offerings. The performances are well turned out. The morality is stylishly gray. The attitude is almost fashionable.
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80Benefits from delicious acting from co-stars Geoffrey Rush and Pierce Brosnan, a mordant script co-written by le Carre (along with Boorman and Andrew Davies), and the distinctive touch of its director.
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80The first really good spy movie about the impossibility, under present historical circumstances, of making a really good spy movie.
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80Classy, articulate and richly humorous.
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79A fast, funny film that goes down like a cyanide-spiked piña colada.
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78It's a humorous film, to be sure, but there's also a stringent vein of giddy realism to it.
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75Overall, it's a hand-tailored job in a marketplace filled with off-the-rack movies.
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75Forget the end and there is much to enjoy here.
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75Brosnan and Rush are a smooth fit, playing off each other like a snappy shirt and tie.
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75Many spy capers lose their intended irony and wry black humor, but The Tailor of Panama stays stylishly on target in ways that would put a heat-seeking missile to shame.
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70A cut above the preposterous action spectacles that now pass for espionage films.
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70The show belongs to Geoffrey Rush in a note-perfect performance as Harry Pendel, the tailor.
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70I fear that the cozy domestic ending will leave audiences disappointed, convinced that they've seen something smaller and less momentous than they have.
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70Despite a dissatisfying conclusion, a sense that things don't completely jell, The Tailor of Panama is lively and provocative.
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63If The Tailor of Panama doesn't quite gel, the attempt is still worth savoring.
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60If anything saves this movie, it's the acting.
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60An Austin Powers movie for grown-ups.
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50Strains too hard to seem smart and savvy.
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50The script gets so silly, the Monty Python troupe would reject it.
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50The rhythms excite expectations that go unanswered.
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40The movie is crudely jokey and, finally, a wimpy betrayal of its source.
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40The film finally collapses under the burden of implausibility.
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25Anyone expecting a flashy Bond-style fantasy is going to be disappointed.
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20Only Le Carre fans with tin ears and clouded eyes will fail to note the film's sour tone, crude performances and drab look.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 14
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Mixed: 1 out of 14
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Negative: 6 out of 14
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JJG9Lots of fun in an evil, devilish, and absolutely delicious way. Brosnan and Rush are both wonderful.
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EricS.0I didn't find one redeeming quality about this movie.