If you have seen trailers or advertising for this film, they may have almost exclusively focused on Woody Allen just like it was for me. However, the main player behind "Fading Gigolo" ("Suddenly Gigolo") is John Turturro. He directed it, he wrote it and he plays the central character Fioravante. It sure takes a lot of guts to write a character described by women as a top stud between the sheets and then cast yourself for that role. I knew him mostly from his performance on the TV show "Monk", which brought him an Emmy as the title character's brother. Of course he was also in "Barton Fink" and many more. Apart from Allen and Turturro, Vanessa Paradis (mostly known for her longtime relationship with Johnny Depp) plays the female main role. Supporting players are Sofia Vergara ("Modern Family"), Liev Schreiber ("Ray Donovan") and Sharon Stone ("Casino"), the two ladies being actually typecast for roles that do not look too different than some of their work in the past.
The best part of the film was probably Allen playing a pimp. He brought the comedic highlights of the movie while Paradis was responsible for the dramatic highlights. Turturro I am not so sure what to think of his performance. I felt it was a bit empty and for the most of the film, he was just there and I wasn't really impacted by his actions. Just like he directed it, I felt all the interesting things in this film had not too much to do with him. If you are nice, you could say, he was quietly convincing. Anyway back to Allen, if some more people had actually seen this film, he may have even been in consideration for a Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars. But he doesn't care anyway, so it's fine I guess. There was one scene where his character makes a quote about competition, which was pretty funny given Allen's long history of absence at award ceremonies.
One of the most interesting things here is how all the women admired the name Fioravante as he must be some great Italian lover and the one he actually likes doesn't even know his name. The ending I am not sure what to think of or if I liked it. Obviously, Paradis' character only saw him as a helper to her grief and all of a sudden, she was ready to marry Schreiber's character? It came all out of nowhere and felt pretty weird to me. I don't need a happy end, but if it is unhappy, it has to be at least somewhat credible and I did not think it was. At least they avoided the usual drama when she finds out what he actually does. And the very final scene, with the other lady was pretty insignificant too. It felt only included to make the viewer leave the theater with a smile, but it did not fit at all in relation to everything what happened before. Paradis and Turturro seemed to have good chemistry, so I would have preferred a happy ending in this case I think.
One real highlight where the dialogs between Fioravante and his pimp. Well, actually it was mostly the pimp talking all the time. I also liked the music (including Dean Martin's "Sway"), but as a whole I would really only recommend this one to Woody Allen completionists.
The best part of the film was probably Allen playing a pimp. He brought the comedic highlights of the movie while Paradis was responsible for the dramatic highlights. Turturro I am not so sure what to think of his performance. I felt it was a bit empty and for the most of the film, he was just there and I wasn't really impacted by his actions. Just like he directed it, I felt all the interesting things in this film had not too much to do with him. If you are nice, you could say, he was quietly convincing. Anyway back to Allen, if some more people had actually seen this film, he may have even been in consideration for a Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars. But he doesn't care anyway, so it's fine I guess. There was one scene where his character makes a quote about competition, which was pretty funny given Allen's long history of absence at award ceremonies.
One of the most interesting things here is how all the women admired the name Fioravante as he must be some great Italian lover and the one he actually likes doesn't even know his name. The ending I am not sure what to think of or if I liked it. Obviously, Paradis' character only saw him as a helper to her grief and all of a sudden, she was ready to marry Schreiber's character? It came all out of nowhere and felt pretty weird to me. I don't need a happy end, but if it is unhappy, it has to be at least somewhat credible and I did not think it was. At least they avoided the usual drama when she finds out what he actually does. And the very final scene, with the other lady was pretty insignificant too. It felt only included to make the viewer leave the theater with a smile, but it did not fit at all in relation to everything what happened before. Paradis and Turturro seemed to have good chemistry, so I would have preferred a happy ending in this case I think.
One real highlight where the dialogs between Fioravante and his pimp. Well, actually it was mostly the pimp talking all the time. I also liked the music (including Dean Martin's "Sway"), but as a whole I would really only recommend this one to Woody Allen completionists.