Fading Gigolo looks like a Woody Allen film, he does appear in this.

However it is directed, written and stars John Turturro who plays Fioravante who works part time in a rare bookshop owned by Murray Schwartz (Woody Allen.) The bookstore is in financial trouble and will soon close down.

Murray tells Fioravante that his dermatologist Dr Parker (Sharon Stone) wants a threesome with her girlfriend Selima (Sofía Vergara) and she is wiling to pay good money.

Fioravante who is short of money agrees and Murray becomes his pimp. Later Murray coaxes a widow of a rabbi to see Fioravante. Avigal (Vanessa Paradis) does have a tender friendship with him but a local security watch guard Dovi (Liev Schreiber) becomes jealous has he is infatuated by Avigal.

Turturro is not someone who you would describe as being conventionally handsome. As an actor he tends to be intense but here he is rather low key. It also smacks of a vanity project with him being a romantic gigolo. I did not buy it and this is someone who has watched decades of Woody Allen films romancing beautiful women.

The main problem is that the script is flimsy and incoherent. It is unsure whether it wants to be a crude sex comedy or a charming comedy drama but it comes across as a little dull.

Wisely he leaves the comedy to Allen who is the best thing in this.

In Brooklyn, the bankrupted owner of a book store Fioravante (John Turturro) is forced to close his family business. His best friend Murray (Woody Allen) tells that his dermatologist Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) dreams on having a threesome and would pay a thousand-dollar to have with her friend Selima (Sofía Vergara). Murray proposes to be Fioravante's gigolo and they start a male prostitution business.

When Fioravante meets the Jewish Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), who is the widow of a rabbi, they fall in love with each other. But the Jewish Dovi (Liev Schreiber) loves Avigal and will make life difficult for Murray.

"Fading Gigolo" is a deceptive and pointless movie that is neither a comedy nor a drama. Indeed the story is not funny or dramatic and does not have any message in the end. Further, John Turturro as a sex symbol for lonely women seems to be a problem of middle-age crisis of John Turturro that uses the movie to satisfy his ego. What make this movie worth are the beautiful Vanessa Paradis and Woody Allen. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Amante a Domicílio" ("Lover at Home")

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.