CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Review: Warm ‘Fading Gigolo’ Has Odd Romance, Woody Allen
CHICAGO – How do you make a Woody Allen style film? You hire Woody Allen to act in it. Writer, director and lead actor John Turturro channels the soul of Allen’s films by creating a strange and romantic scenario with different types of relationships, including one with Woody himself in “Fading Gigolo.”
Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
Turturro plays the title character named Fioravante, who hatches a plan with Woody Allen’s character to become a gigolo. The unlikeliness of the situation lends to both the strengths and weaknesses of the movie, with a touch of winking at the camera. Turturro the writer and lead actor also (naturally) casts Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara as a couple of clients, but saves the oddest part of the story involving sect of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Within all these loops is the pace and style of a Woody Allen romantic comedy, all the way to having the master himself bless the proceedings. It’s a middle age fantasy paired with an echo effect of “Annie Hall.”
Tough economic times forced the closure of a New York City bookstore run by Murray (Woody Allen). One of his best customers and friend is Fioravante (John Turturro), a part time florist who is also barely getting by. After considering some cash-making angles, the pair decide to provide gigolo services, with Murray acting as the representative for Fioravante.
The business takes off, aided by a mysterious Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone), who provides other clients for Fioravante, including a potential three-way tryst with Selima (Sofia Vergara). But one client begins to stand out over another, a Hasidic Jewish woman named Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), who has lost her husband, yet is not ready to marry inside the sect again. She begins to use the gigolo as a buffer, which irritates her potential Hasidic suitor, Dovi (Liev Schreiber), and involves Murray with some potential complications.
Murray (Woody Allen) and Fioravante (John Turturro) Hatch a Plan in ‘Fading Gigolo’
Photo credit: Millenium Entertainment