Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Bee Friendly An unlikely plot, but charming to watch. Best parts of the movie are the sexy "older" ladies and of course the diner where Allen and Turturro meet. Who wouldn't like that New York back? Interesting to find out about the insane lives or Orthodox Jewish women. One thing more: Turturro is unfortunately in his worst role, I mean he doesn't flinch, he doesn't express anything at all. He should have outsourced that role. An "un-pretty man" doesn't have to be that dull. Over all great New York scenes and a good Liev Schreiber as well. Music is great, too, and since one has to write 10 whole lines here, goodness only knows why, I will say that WOody Allen was pretty cute, too. Almost like the old days.

Alex Deleon On paper "Fading Gigolo" with a Dream Team lineup looks like a sure winner. An excellent New York actor, John Turruro stepping behind the cameras to direct both himself and Woody Allen in a Jewish tale seemingly tailor made for Woody's style of humor with backup support from actresses of no lesser stature than Susan Stone and French star Vanessa Paradis, plus Liev Schriver who seems to be in everything these days playing a tough neighborhood watch cop in Hassidic drag. The setting is the ultra orthodox Jewish section of Brooklyn and, while Turturro himself is not Jewish, his wife is and he knows the milieu So off I went with movie buddy and screen writer Jeff Shank to catch this picture first run at the elegant new Larmmle theater in North Hollywood. Result ~ less than overwhelming. And here is my immediate reaction ... Finally got out to a movie tonight. Saw the new Woody Allen --as actor only -- in "Fading Gigolo" a flick directed by and painfully starring John Turturro. Starts out pretty funny in the heart of the Hassidic Williamsburg district of Brooklyn with some classic Woody Allen banter but quickly settles down to a long tedious bore featuring a decidedly over the hill (but still not too bad looking) Sharon Stone as a single sex-starved middle-aged skin therapist and erstwhile French sexpot Vanessa Paradis as a peculiarly attractive Jewish widow with a headdress of false hair preserving her modesty. In "Gigolo" Turturro makes Allen over into a pimp and himself into the gigolo of the title that Allen is pandering for. Hard to see middle aged Turturro as a marketable sex object, but the women Allen picks out for him to service are no spring chickens either and find him more than adequately vigorous -- hence the justification for the title. John may be a little long in the tooth to gigolize, but he is after all an Italian stallion -- and that is the central conceit of this not very convincing tale. In passing the film proposes to paint a telling inside picture of this ultra religious Jewish community but succeeds only in presenting a ridiculous catalogue of some major actors in painfully misadjusted roles. "Gigolo" is clearly a well intentioned attempt at a pro-Semitic European type art film, but misses the mark by miles. Tururro tries for deeper meaning with long brooding closeups of himself designed to convey the profound internal conflicts of his gigolo character, but Antonioni this is not. Boring and misconceived all around. An embarrassment that only a Jewish mother could love -- especially if she keeps kosher and firmly observes the Sabbath. Resonates oddly with smarmy allegations of incestuous sexual child molestation raised recently by a stepdaughter of Allen's decades after the (supposed) fact, and his own vehement denial of same. Best scene: A closeup of the making of a classic New York Chocolate "A" Creme at an old time soda fountain counter -- the only scene with any real fizz. "Fading Gigolo". was viewed First run on May 15, 2013, .

MisterWhiplash Fading Gigolo actually has much more about Hasidic Jews than I expected, and a touching core plot about a widow's emotional awakening thanks to the not always being in the stuffy world of Hasidics. But when it's the Woodman and Turturro or most anyone else on screen like his adopted black kids (lol) - and of course there's the whole running gag of beautiful women like Sharon Stone and Sofia Vegara paying to have sex, including a three way, with Vito from Do the Right thing as a middle aged man - it's exceedingly amiable.Occasionally it's very funny (and I was chuckling and or tittering through much) and in a couple of scenes Allen shows he's a good actor (which, you know, you always expect him to be wisecracking woody and he is but a couple of times he shows that he can reveal restraint, thinking on his feet, other things), but watch him in certain scenes, like when he comes to a realization with a woman character. His mind is working as is his emotions, and it clicks in a way we haven't seen with him in... Deconstructing Harry maybe? It's a good little New York City movie that is better than it has any right to be based on its silly but intrinsically amusing premise, and for a fair chunk of the run time it does take seriously the constructive world of Hasidics in Brooklyn and what happens when Liev Schreiber gets jealous and has to face his own complex emotions.

Lee Eisenberg John Turturro steps behind the camera, casting himself as a male prostitute and Woody Allen as his pimp. "Fading Gigolo" also looks at the mores of New York's Hasidic community (some of which sound like ideas from the Taliban). Allen's character is his usual self, while Turturro's clients - played by Sharon Stone and Sofía Vergara - remind one of Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate".The main thing that I took from this movie is that Woody Allen does best when he simply tries to be funny. His movies got boring when he started focusing on neurotic rich people (don't even get me started on the god-awful "Everyone Says I Love You"). Although "Fading Gigolo" depicts such people, it's more of a satirical portrayal. Also, Allen does well in movies directed by other people: there's this one plus "What's New, Pussycat?", "Casino Royale", "The Front" and "Company Man". You'll like this one.I'd like to see Woody Allen make a horror flick. He would play a nebbish fleeing zombies (likely played by scream queens Adrienne Barbeau, Linnea Quigley, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc), and telling people that the zombies aren't as scary as producers who think that commercials qualify as art.