The Tailor of Panama (2001)

The ambitious and probably quite duplicitous "Luxmore" (David Hayman) manages to salvage something for his MI6 agent friend "Andy" (Pierce Brosnan) from his latest peccadillo by having him sent to Panama to represent British intelligence. Of course he's less than impressed with a posting to this political backwater, but fairly swiftly realises that there is plenty going on to keep him occupied - above and beneath the sheets. His principal contact proves to be an eccentric tailor (Geoffrey Rush) who owes a small fortune and who is married to "Louisa" (Jamie Lee Curtis) - who helps run the hugely strategic canal. Tailoring proves to be quite an useful trade as it gets "Harry" into all sorts of interesting and privileged locations - including the salon of the Panamanian President who is considering whether selling the waterway off in return for much need investment for his country might not be a bad thing. Of course, this information - assuming that any of it is actually true - must be handled delicately as it has value both commercially and diplomatically, and it's now that "Andy" and "Harry" must decide just where any loyalties lie. Did anyone else think there is something of the "Dr. Strangelove" to this? The frequent attempts to satirise the intelligence gathering community, the nest featherers, the diplomatic half-wits and the preference of US foreign policy to look for a remote-controlled military solution before any long term one are all included here in this fairly faithful adaptation of John Le Carré's novel. Sadly, though, I felt that Rush over-cooked his effort to the point where it bordered a little too close to farce and though Brosnan looked the part, he brings little screen presence instead relying on his now rather jaded 007 persona without the gadgets, gizmos or John Barry. Indeed, some of the CGI production looks little better than that from a few of Roger Corman's movies forty years earlier at Hammer. Curtis features too sparingly to make much difference and the conclusion is all just a bit too rushed as if they ran out of filming days or were hoping that a sequel might emerge from the proceedings to take us on a morning after journey. Boorman keeps it moving, but I could never quite take it seriously - sorry.