Review // Fading Gigolo

John Turturro’s newest comedy has some trouble figuring out what it is, but it certainly has no doubt where it is. The fifth feature film from the actor-turned-director is set in an idealized New York, complete with brownstone townhouses, egg creams and Woody Allen.

The story follows Fioravante (Turturro), a down-on-his-luck florist struggling to make ends meet. When his friend Murray (Allen) is forced to close his bookstore, he comes to Fioravante with a proposal: become a gigolo and satisfy the needs of Murray’s wealthy female friends. Though hesitant at first, Fioravante soon relents and after a successful first appointment with the lonely trophy wife Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) he discovers he may have a gift for the carnal arts.

As the central pair, Turturro and Allen have great chemistry. It’s a pleasant experience watching Allen perform in someone else’s work for a change, and he’s clearly enjoying only having to worry about delivering that old Woody Allen persona. Turturro’s performance is a bit of a muddle. Fioravante’s shift into male escort seems far too effortless and it’s never really clear whether he enjoys it or if he feels used. We’re led to believe he’s forced into the work out of financial necessity, yet his spacious uptown apartment and sharp wardrobe say otherwise, thus making his motives feel slightly suspect. As he begins to fall for the beautiful widow Avigal, the film feels like it hasn’t even finished introducing us to its protagonist.

While the film’s shift into love story may be clunky, the side stories prop it up with laughs. Allen is a delight in all of his scenes (Turturro seems to be testing how many times he can get him to say “ménage” in an hour and a half), Sharon Stone manages to be off-her-meds crazy while simultaneously believable, and Sofia Vergara is sultry, if a little predictable, as Selima.

The actors on the other side of the film – the dramatic side – don’t fare as well. Liev Schreiber is certainly a sight as the Shomrim officer who gets wise to Murray, but besides his outfit he’s uninteresting. Vanessa Paradis is sweet and wholesome as Avigal, but painfully inhuman, existing only to show Fioravante the error of his ways.

Fading Gigolo is a charming little comedy that just can’t quite put all of its pieces together. While it evokes New York comedies gone by, its characters seem less like human beings, and more like local colour. Only Allen is able to make the best of this, but he has the advantage of being the living embodiment of New York on the big screen. Caught between a seedy comedy and a dramatic love story, Fading Gigolo is cute, but forgettable.

Reviewed by Evan Arppe.

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