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Recently, Brosnan may have further piqued gay curiosity when he co-starred opposite Woody Harrelson in the disappointing After the Sunset. The film flopped as a buddy “heist” movie, and seems to be remembered only for its over-bearing attempt to create humor by setting Harrelson and Brosnan up for assorted ‘are they or aren't they gay' jokes. The filmmakers' pre-occupation with putting their characters in scenes where they might be perceived as gay pretty much fell flat with the film's audiences.

After the Sunset 's director Brett Ratner's somewhat crude and clueless frat-house type rationale for his “gay” running-gag idea speaks volumes on why it failed - "Well, being gay is funny I think, and how did I do it? I wore a dress when I directed the scene so they thought I was gay and felt comfortable being in a homoerotic situation... no, I'm kidding! How did I make that funny? I guess seeing two men together in bed is funny… having these two guys together in bed when they don't want to be. If they wanted to be, it wouldn't be funny. But because they didn't want to be in bed together, it was definitely funny."

‘nuff said.

The film's two other stars - Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis, also excel in their roles. Kinnear plays refreshingly well off his own usual smarty-pants gen-x image. He is entirely believable as the vulnerable, self-questioning traveling salesman Danny Wright, who, away from home and sharing a hotel with Noble, just might fall for the ever-horny international hitman's bisexual charms.

Hope Davis as Wright's doting, homebody wife is especially interesting in a role that otherwise could have been a mere type cast throwaway. Davis offers a new twist on the typical dumb-blonde role. As pioneered by Lisa Kudrow of Friends, this character is not so much “dumb” as “idiot savant” blonde, and intriguingly naïve.

Perhaps as a reaction to the current over-saturation of gay themed mainstream films; and perhaps not wanting to alienate its hetero male target demographic, the press releases for The Matador have toned-down the film's many homosexual aspects to the point of entirely eliminating them from any of the film's promotions.

The review press has apparently played along. No Matador reviews I've read so far mention the film's pivotal scene – which implies a secret homosexual encounter between Noble and Wright that keeps the audience guessing until the film's end. Nor do any reviews comment on its many, many queer innuendos. A few reviewers include only a slight passing mention of the Julian Noble character being “bisexual”.

“Bisexual” is putting it mildly. Throughout the film the unapologetically depraved Julian clearly intimates a fondness for not just men and women, but also girls, boys, and possibly all the gender-bending possibilities in between. Even if its pansexuality is presented only subliminally and/or allegorically, the film The Matador is way gayer than its promo and press make it out to be.

Brosnan's co-star Greg Kinnear coyly admitted to Reuters, "They (Nobel and Wright) do have a very funny relationship and there is this, kind of, underlying love there. We're not the new Brokeback Mountain, don't get me wrong… but there is this quiet affection."

Yeah, real quiet. In The Matador, Danny Wright and Julian Noble first meet at a bar in Mexico City, a place where Julian insists “the margaritas taste best -- and also the cock.”

It will be interesting to see if the religious right sees past the placating superficialities of adventurous buddy bonding, bachelor party type drunken escapades and macho gun-laden spy action in The Matador, and raises a moral stink about its lead character's bisexual proclivities. Julian Noble is someone who, by their own standards, would clearly be classified as a deviant – way more so than the poor, innocent lovers of say, Brokeback Mountain.

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