The Florentine (1999)
A slice-of-life story unfolds inside The Florentine, a bar in a Pennsylvania steel town whose brightest days are behind it, leaving behind many of life's disillusioned "losers." Its owner, Whitey (Michael Madsen), is deep in debt to the town's loan shark, Joe McCollough (Burt Young), and desperate for a path forward which won't cost him the bar. His sister, Molly (Virginia Madsen), is days away from her long-awaited nuptials, and then her former fiancé, Teddy (Tom Sizemore), shows up in town for the first time since leaving her at the altar years before. Ne'er-do-well Billy Belasco (Jim Belushi) runs a con on Frankie (Luke Perry) to steal the money for the wedding caterer, while long-time regular Bobby (Chris Penn) becomes a patron-cum-inhabitant as he hides from his fast-crumbling marriage to Vikki (Mary Stuart Masterson). Every plot in this multi-layered story seems to be at its nadir just as a pair of unlikely heroes emerge out of the backdrop to turn everything around.
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Great Film overall
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
This movie seemed quite realistic - the actors do a superb job of creating their characters and that's what moves the movie! The scenes seem authentic to me, even though it is outside my own realm of experience. I just happened to notice the title and am glad I stopped to watch. I felt empathy with the bride and wanted a "happy ending" for her. There are some very well known actors there (including two from Saving Private Ryan), and I don't know why this movie isn't being shown on the other movie channels. It would give more people the chance to watch it. Well worth the time. Perhaps a different title would have induced more to view it.
Terrific cast often times goes with not so terrific plot. Terrific plot with not so terrific cast is another misfire. "The Florentine" has both a cast and a plot that equals terrific everything. The interwoven converging stories contain no sex and just a nosebleed of violence, yet the movie works on all levels because of tremendous character development. In this movie nothing else matters except lifelong friendships, and that is a rare and wonderful foundation for "The Florentine". The movie is very quiet, has terrific dialog, surprisingly sharp, yet understated humor, and is positively a keeper for multiple viewings. - MERK
This film is a sensitive depiction of the excitment and drama in the every day lives of people who are familiar to us all. Caught in a place where just scratching out an existance takes all the energy of a group of people who life has forced to use any means available to just get by. The siuations, characters, their relationships and dialogue bring us into a close understanding of life lived with little more than the basics. If you want to see a picture, (more a snapshot), about basic truths that we all share, this is it.
This movie tries to be great. It does not succeed but I'll take an effort like this over much of the movies I see out of Hollywood. I was reminded a great deal of the Deer Hunter (scenes in the PA town) in the look and feel of the movie. Beautiful acting by the great cast is the real strong point of this movie. The performances by Mike Madsen, Virginia Madsen, Tom Sizemore, Mary Stuart Masterson, Jeremy Davies and Chris Penn are believable. The movie has some great shots and an incredible soundtrack lead by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. My only complaint is that it seems to have too much going on. There are at least seven different subplots in the movie. I got the feeling that much was cut out to make it to the 100 minute run time. This movie should have been allowed to be three hours. This is not the fault of the filmmakers. This is well worth the price of a rental or a purchase.