John Turturro is a “Fading Gigolo” in an Unlikely Comedy
By Skip Sheffield
“Fading Gigolo” is one curious little movie.
How curious? Woody Allen stars in it as an actor- not writer
or director. He plays a pimp.
The writer, director and star of “Fading Gigolo” is John
Turturro, who in this unlikely story goes by the unusual name Fiorvane, a
flower shop worker. He is urged to rent out his body by his friend Murray
(Woody Allen), a cash-strapped bookstore owner. Murray learned from his dermatologist, Dr. Parker
(Sharon Stone) that she would like to try a threesome with her gorgeous friend
Selima (Sofia Vergara).
That’s right, Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara are willing to
pay money ($1000!) for a guy to have sex with both of them. That’s a likely
story huh?
Before you get the wrong idea, be advised this is not
softcore porn, though with those beautiful actresses the imagination runs wild.
No “Fading Gigolo” is really a romance, and a rather sweet
one at that.
After meeting with Dr. Parker and Selima (we won’t divulge
the outcome) Murray
comes up with another woman looking for love.
Her name is Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), the lonely widow of a
much-revered Chasidic Rabbi with whom she had six children. So Avigal visits
Fiorvane and they hit it off.
Unbeknownst to Avigal and Fiorvane, Avigal is being stalked
by another Chasidic Jew, Dovi (Liev Schreiber). Dovi is no Rabbi. Actually he
is a neighborhood watch cop in their Orthodox Brooklyn area, so he has a
perfect cover for his snooping.
Schreiber plays his unrequited, protective admirer deadly
serious, which makes it all the funnier.
It helps to know something about New
York and Brooklyn in particular
to get on the wavelength of this oddball romantic comedy. It certainly is
something you don’t see everyday, and any movie that pairs Sharon Stone with
Sofia Vergara can’t be all bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment