This is one seriously well-written action-comedy flick in which both Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear soar into the stratosphere of professional acting.

Especially Brosnan, playing the flippant and despicable but still somewhat sufferable contract killer Julian Nobles, a handsome and gruff guy in his 40s, shows that he is a lot more than just a pretty Irish face. This man can certainly act no matter what the role is.

In this risky departure from his well-established James-Bond-Remington-Steele persona, it is amazing what Brosnan pulls off with great courage and skill even when he is cast against type with a vengeance. Brosnan actually makes us root for a killer whose only redeeming value is his utter loneliness in this world and with that he touches a soft chord in all of us.

As soon as the film starts we immediately realize the kind of able directing awaiting us ahead. In one of the first scenes we are taken aback watching Brosnan paint his toes in the bathroom with the dark nail polish of the girl whom he spent the night with and who is still sleeping in bed. And what's more, we are aware that he is doing it just for kicks. Perhaps there is more, a lot more here than meets the eye. We are already sure that there is a rich collection of dark impulses lurking behind the surface of this annoyingly self-confident womanizer. That's a lot to achieve for any director in a few scenes that last perhaps a total of ten seconds.

Then we see him burning a document and throwing it into the toilet. What kind of business he is in? He certainly cannot be an accountant or a bathroom fixture salesman.

Those two early scenes immediately establish the unusual character profile of the anti-hero. That's a remarkably efficient use of cinema language without wasting any words.

Then we are introduced to the Danny Wright character played comfortably by Greg Kinnear, one of those dependable second-tier Hollywood professionals like Jeff Daniels who are not box-office hit stars like a Tom Cruise but are just as good in terms of sheer acting ability.

The story develops with the two unlikely "partners" collaborating to "facilitate one more fatality" after which Noble finds the "peace" he was looking for. So what happens to all the people he kills for a living? What happens to justice?

Brosnan and Kinnear, as well as Hope Davis who plays Kinnear's alluring and hopelessly naive wife, are so good to watch, such substantive and important questions arise only after the lights come on and the popcorn in the bucket is long gone. It's just a film, folks. It's just entertainment.