I was very anxious to see this movie since it was filmed where I live, in the Lehigh Valley. It took a long time since it was filmed--about two years ago--to be released. And I must say I'm very happy with it. Great cast and it was a pretty involving story. The Florentine is mostly composed of short scenes between different pairs of actors, and it moves along at a pretty even pace, though it is perhaps a bit slow at times. Overall, I'd rate it a 7 out of 10.
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MJive28 March 2000
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Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Jeremy Davies, Virginia Madsen, Tom Sizemore, Mary Stuart Masterson, Hal Holbrook, Luke Perry, James Belushi, Burt Young, without a strong name writing or directing it, "The Florentine" was one of those good reunions of great people from Hollywood that resulted in one of the saddest films ever made, and sad in a bad way. Here's a film that wasted a little the potential of talented actors that didn't get a clue of what they were doing when they entered into this small work.
With not much of a purpose on sight, "The Florentine", of the title is a bar owned by Michael Madsen's character, a place where most of the characters will spend some good time in between their personal dramas before the great event in town, the wedding of Madsen's sister. Other event on course is the return of her first love, who abandoned her on the wedding day. Until we get to the party, there's the characters dilemmas about love, money, deceits, respect, meaning of life and etc, slow speeches that don't evolve to anything interesting and worth seeing. There's good moments like the ones involving Jeremy Davies trying to impress a beautiful waitress that doesn't want anything with him or Sizemore dealing with two crooks that robbed the naive Perry, who joined on a business enterprise that was a complete scam. The dialogs are uninteresting, most of the characters are real losers that don't have a thing to say except arguing about not having any money, but in the end everybody gets happy because they have the opportunity of being known as the common people, and common people all get together at The Florentine.
No wonder why a project with such a good cast is so below the radar and is very likely that Mr. Coppola didn't get his invested money back with this thing, and to think that he directed 11 films (between 1983 and 1997) just to pay the high costs of "One From the Heart", a box-office failure but an excellent picture better than "The Florentine". I wonder how many he had to produce just to pay for this one. 5/10 -
harvestmoonfilms30 August 2002If you like rock solid acting and don't mind slow moving plots, then, this one's for you. The cast is TOP NOTCH, with fine acting and writing (interesting characters and storyline), and fine visuals. The problem is, THE OPENING. The last thing you wanna do is bore an audience for the first twenty minutes. THE FLORENTINE does this BRILLIANTLY. With a little editing, a little TLC, this movie could be first class.
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michaelRokeefe20 November 2000This is a 'round robin' of several different stories and groups of characters that intersect each other. This makes for a tough time to follow and get into. The abundant strong language makes for reality, but may offend some viewers. Strong point is very good writing. Stick with this one.
There is a diverse gathering of talent featuring: Luke Perry, Tom Sizemore, Virginia Madsen, Chris Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, Michael Madsen, Burt Young, Hal Holbrook and James Beulushi.
On a lazy weekend, a good companion movie would be DINER. -
raylynhan20 May 2006This is a fantastic character driven film, with a great, slightly quirky script, some funny one liners and an excellent cast. Standing out among the uniformly excellent performances are the the great Chris Penn (brilliant as always), Michael Madsen, Tom Sizemore and James Belushi (yes, you did read that right; James Belushi).The film follows a group of friends in the period leading up to a wedding and details how this event impacts on their lives. It's that simple but extremely effective. To say much more about individul story lines would give away too much plot, suffice to say that each character's story is interesting, different and watchable, there are no fillers here! The soundtrack, which features among others, Bruce Springsteen, is superb and really suits the film; one of the best matches of film and music I've heard. This is one of my favourite films and one that bears repeated viewings.
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ktmphd8 November 2000This character study/slice of life story is very well done. The cast is stellar and each of them portray their characters as real, the kinds of people we have all met at some time as we wander through life.
It is the first time I have seen the two Madsens together in a film hope to see them team up again. Sizemore, Halbrook, Penn et.al. all team up to serve a slice of life to the audience that shows real life to us, with it humor, tragedy, comedy, pathos, hopelessness and hopefulness.
This is well worth the cost of the rental. -
I am a fan of so many of these actors that I was delighted, channel surfing, to come in something after the beginning. James Madsen! Where can you find him anymore in a role that isn't violent, after Thelma and Louise? Virginia Madsen? She's always struck me as authentic. Mary Stuart Masterson, last I saw her was Fried Green Tomatoes, and she's just as world-class here. Jim Belushi -- this is his best role yet. Hal Holbrook broke his stereotype in one fell swoop.
The meat of this play is how well it transferred to film. The ease of these -- some of our best-- actors makes it palpable. It's subtle and stark, such honesty that other movies approaching this caliber pale.
I can't recommend it highly enough. -
ctomvelu-131 May 2008From a play, THE FLORENTINE is a look at several friends whiling away their lives in an old Pennsylvania steel town. They are slowly preparing for the marriage of the sister (Virginia Madsen) of the local barkeep (Michael Madsen). Among the cast, who spend most of their time in the local bar, called The Florentine, are Hal Holbrook as a retiree, Luke Perry as a naif, Chris Penn as the local tough and Tom Sizemore as a newly minted parolee. Jim Belushi has a spot as a con man and Burt Young also has a small role as a loanshark. Madsen's character is the tie that binds this motley crew. Other females in the cast include Jill Hennessey and Mary Stuart Masterson, both of whom are terrific, although this is really a guys' movie. A great cast, a great play and a wonderful movie that expands the play just enough to keep us riveted.
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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.
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merklekranz15 April 2007Terrific 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
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Brad K.29 March 2000When I first heard about The Florentine, I figured it would be some violent crime thriller. After watching it I was surprised to find out that its a character-driven drama which strikes your emotions. The film has several different storylines featuring intersecting characters all of whom know each other and spend time together. As with all films with several different storylines, some are better than others. The best storyline in the film features Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, Bringing Out the Dead) as the man who left town and his girfriend and has come back just before her wedding. Sizemore gives the best performance of the film. He especially brings a level of pathos to his character. The scene between him and his ex-girlfriend's caring brother, excellently portrayed by Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Donnie Brasco) is the best of the film. Other than Sizemore and Madsen, the cast includes good turns by Jeremy Davies (Saving Private Ryan, The Locusts), James Belushi (K-9, Gang Related), Chris Penn (One Tough Cop, Rush Hour), Luke Perry (The 5th Element, Normal Life) and Hal Holbrook (Hush, The Bachelor). Highly recommended.
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emtp5631 April 2001I found the movie itself to be extremely boring. I've seen the movie two times and I really can't tell you what it's about. In summary, it's about a bunch of guys just hanging out.
What kept me captivated was the use of my town for the filming of the movie. When the production crew was in town filming, it definitely was a big to-do. I was somewhat disappointed that the movie never made it to the theatre's in this country.
Most of the movie was filmed in Easton, PA. The interior of the bar is Mother's Tavern in Centre Square, Easton. The exterior of the bar is the Mount Vernon Ale House, at 6th and Northampton St., Easton, PA. The neighborhood scenes were filmed in South Side Bethlehem, PA and the industrial scenes were filmed at the Bethlehem Steel facility. -
dlafarm7 January 2010This 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.
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perp20 September 2001This 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.
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minniecactus12 April 2008We stumbled upon this movie on television (it has been out a while) and were very pleased with it. It has an engaging plot, excellent casting and the characters are very well formed. This must have been an "indie" because we had not heard of it previously. There are notable performances by Chris Penn, Virginia Madsen, Jim Belushi and Tom Sizemore. The story takes place in a small Pennsylvania town and revolves around the wedding of two of the characters.It has a very genuine feel and a some good comedic moments. If you liked "The Brothers McMullen" or "Diner", you will like this movie. The plot has just enough twists and turns to keep the movie interesting without overdoing it.
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roxy349919 March 2021This movie had such an amazing cast. The performances were solid and some of the most underrated actors in Hollywood starred in this movie. Everyone delivered and I was very impressed! Excellent movie from start to finish.
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johnnyz21 September 1998I have seen the rough cut of this picture and it is worth checking out. There is some fine writing by Damien Gray and Tom Benson ably handled by a good cast. Problem one, they all look too fat and too old for the parts. Problem two, the direction is merely competent. Problem three, no ending. it just kind of fizzles out. Hopefully this was fixed in the final edit. Look for good things in the future from the writers.