Suddenly gigoloPosted by Graves Husum on June 10th, 2021 Frantic-comic hysteria and a jazzy trumpet soundtrack, rabbis and New York, plus Woody Allen in a leading role: The ingredients are all there, but no, the comedy "Suddenly Gigolo" is not the latest work by the exceptional director and four-time Oscar winner, but here there is "only" one of his few appearances as an actor under a foreign direction. In turn, a friend and admirer of Allen's indie favorite John Turturro ("Barton Fink", "Miller’s Crossing") took over, so that the tragicomic culture clash farce still breathes the spirit of the urban neurotic universe in every setting. Look, tone of voice and atmosphere: Everything is reminiscent of Woody Allen's own films, but despite some really funny punchlines, Turturro never quite comes close to the big role model. And that's primarily because the funny basic idea turns out to be insufficiently viable for a full-length film, which leads to some idle time. The New York flower seller Fioravante (John Turturro) and his old buddy, the bookseller Murray (Woody Allen), are doing more than well above water. But suddenly Murray comes up with a bold idea that could financially restore both of them: One of his friends, the dermatologist Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) is looking for a sexual adventure - she would love to have a threesome with a hired man and her friend Selima (Sofia Vergara). For this rent-a-man job, Fioravante is exactly the right person, says Murray. And after a moment's hesitation, he accepts the order, although he is truly no professional gigolo. In return for plenty of cash, he makes Dr. Parker and takes pleasure in the lucrative extra income. He soon turned to a second client: Avigal (Vanessa Paradis) is the widow of a rabbi who is well known in the district and is accordingly under observation in her devout community. The neighborhood policeman Dovi (Liev Schreiber) in particular has an eye on Avigal because he is secretly in love with her. episodes of course leads to complications ...
The idea for “Suddenly Gigolo” came to director John Turturro during a dinner with a friend when you joked about a very special man for certain hours and couldn't stop laughing while improvising. Turturro developed the script for “Suddenly Gigolo” from the premise of jazzing up anyone to a lover by order, with which he marched directly to his friend Woody Allen. Obviously, he took a liking to the story and agreed to do one of his seldom appearances as an actor in Turturro's fifth directorial work. And in fact, the comedy is particularly enjoyable when the eccentric Allen is the edgy New York senior pimp “Mr. Bongo “tries to convey his inconspicuous friend as a servant of love, while chatting around his head. These wonderfully comical scenes derive their wit above all from the sober pragmatism with which Murray approaches this task.
To Allen's busy troublemaker, Turturros flower seller, who finds his true calling late, is at first a reassuring antithesis, but as Murray moves more and more into the background, the film loses some of its momentum. This is also due to the fact that the director Turturro lacks the bite of his older colleague and so the implausible narrative in the middle part starts to ripple threateningly. Only with the subplot about the amorous policeman Dovi does “Suddenly Gigolo” get going again: Liev Schreiber (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, “Salt”) as an ultra-orthodox Jew in a traditional outfit and a corresponding head of hair is hilarious, Vanessa shows Paradis (“The Woman on the Bridge”, “The Order Over”) in her first English-language role new facets of her talent - in addition, the gentle love story in the Jewish milieu is much more finely nuanced than the rest of the film. Here in particular, John Turturro also finds the quiet tones far from the comical caricatures that otherwise roam the atmospherically photographed autumnal New York.
Conclusion: Some hearty laughs, a few deep thoughts and old master Woody Allen in a playful mood: In his somewhat inconsistent New York comedy, John Turturro does not come close to the famous directing work of his legendary co-star, but he certainly offers solid entertainment.
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