Plötzlich Gigolo

Murray's dermatologist tells him she wants a threesome with her girlfriend, and Murray provides the services of his friend, middle aged Fiorovante. The cottage industry of "making lonely women happy" expands to include orthodox Jewish widow Avigal, but she is the object of desire of Neighbourhood Watch operative Dovi. Also, the way people feel towards each other can change.

Written by, directed by, and starring John Turturro as the unlikely gigolo Fiorovante, an ungenerous soul might suggest that this improbable sex-based comedy drama was just an excuse for him to film a nude scene with Sharon Stone. But I quite liked it. It is rather inconsequential, and the character Fiorovante is fairly inexpressive and therefore difficult to identify with. Also, Liev Schreiber's Dovi is quite unlikeable, and the developments involving his character aren't that convincing. But, as Murray, Woody Allen - not one of my favourite actors - delivers what is probably the best performance I have ever seen from him: gentle, wryly humorous, and spilling over with humanity. The trademark Allen tics are all there, but I liked Murray a lot. And Vanessa Paradis as Avigal was luminous.

Despite its improbability, this rather odd little drama with comedy engaged and entertained me.

Okay, this could well have been written and directed by Woody Allen. It has the feel of a Woody Allen picture. New York, Jewish neighborhood, and John Turturro as an unlikely Romeo who will quite possibly win your heart. The longer you watch, the more charm you see in him. Woody Allen as Murray was, well, Woody Allen and if you are a fan, you'll enjoy it. I am. And I did. Perhaps the ending wasn't exactly what I would have chosen at first thought, but I as I walked out of there it seemed as if it was probably about perfect. This won't appeal to everyone, but then not everyone is a Woody Allen type movie aficionado. If you are, you'll like this one. I thoroughly enjoyed a quiet little film sans all the non-stop violence and action that leaves you wiped out and drained by the end of it. Turturro did a fine job on this film. I left the theater with a smile on my face and a feeling that this was a really good little movie.

John Turturro did a good job both as a director and as an actor: I appreciated both his touching and amusing attitude towards the subject and his heartfelt interpretation as Fioravante. When the umpteenth love story seems to arise in a New York apartment, the delicacy of sentiments wraps every situation, with a touching and somehow magic vision of loneliness which releases a very heartwarming sensation. His character is magnetic to women, and indeed he can appeal the female public, he has that courtesy, that delicacy, that simplicity which attracts women, he looks like a man of ancient times, he is capable of looking into a woman's eye, to listen to them, to understand and appraise them without too many words, but simply standing by them. And in the end, nothing really happens, simply because nothing is needed to happen, according to a delicate and almost prudish attitude towards love which never abandons the picture till the end. Allen as a women-recruiter is funny and obsessive as only Allen can be, and the comedy on the whole owns much to him when some comic and ironic style makes us smile, and when the charm of walking along New York streets makes one look forward to being there.

Fading Gigolo so easily could be a Rollins & Joffe Production and an Allen film; it has all the sensibilities of Allen's comedies since Manhatten - the sexual confusion, the ennui, the desire for love and romance versus the ambition and instincts.

For this reviewer? I chose to see it as a grown-up romantic comedy, a comedy of errors, where Woody Allen and John Turturo's characters are both opportunistic and weary and the women are both fantasizing and projecting and being fantasized and projected. There is enough complexity and simplicity to really make this a stylish, witty, and enjoyable film.

As a jazz geek the score was superb and throughout Turturro adds little touches that make this film a quiet delight. It may not be a perfect film in that the women are too perfect and the contrasts too broad, but you would have to be mean spirited indeed not to enjoy it. It even has something to say about loneliness rather than lust being the source of sex, and that love, however fleeting, even in New York, can happen.

Woody Allen only acts in the picture but the John Turturro directed and stared film feels like the movie Allen never made.

The title Fading Gigolo is perfect as it reflects Turturro who plays the gigolo, a man who could use a little more cash in his pocket so with the help of his friend played by Allen, he becomes an escort to some high class women looking for love and affection.

Personally I think Mr. Tutturro cast himself as the gigolo just so he can show off how good he looks for his age. Of course he's got nothing on Sharon Stone who was so sexy in this film.

And of course I can never leave out Sofia Vergara, who plays a sexy vixen who openly embraces the idea of the gigolo

Though I find Woody Allen charming, I'm glad that his was a John Turturro film. The Director and star adds his known quiet strength to the movie that I have seen in other films.