John Turturro has never been a movie mogul’s vision of a leading man. At 57, the performer, writer, and director is now a burnished icon among American character actors, but he still possesses that lanky Roman profile, sinewy intensity, and discomfiting, naked stare. Certainly, he is an atypical choice to portray a reluctant, middle-aged “gentleman of the night.” However, in his new self-directed feature, Fading Gigolo, Turturro creates a protagonist who is miles away from his usual repertoire of tightly-wound milquetoasts and strutting creeps.
Part-time florist Fioravante might be the mellowest guy that Turturro has portrayed in decades, a quiet Brooklynite who seems comfortable in his own skin. He reacts with astonishment, however, when his older pal Murray (Woody Allen) suggests he make a quick buck, um, servicing a lonely, wealthy dermatologist (Sharon Stone) and her lover (Sofia Vergara). Fioravante, it turns out, is adept at making women feel comfortable and desired, and the money (minus Murray’s fee) is undeniably good. The pair’s scheme runs into trouble, however, when Fioravante is retained by Hasidic widow Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), whose activities arouse the suspicions of the religious authorities, particularly a lovelorn officer in the neighborhood patrol (Liev Schreiber).
As in Turturro’s engagingly nutzoid musical Romance & Cigarettes, the director’s latest feature unfolds in a cartoon version of Long Island that is flush with colorful characters. The presence of Allen as Fioravante’s motor-mouthed (and occasionally wearying) nebbish of a pimp amplifies the sense that Fading Gigolo is a comic alternate reality. The film’s tone is one of low-key japing and autumnal melancholy, but no one could mistake Fading Gigolo for a profound study of contemporary longing. It’s simply a pleasing and forgettable little bauble, albeit one that gives Turturro the actor a chance to shine in novel ways.
