The Florentine

1999
5.6| 1h44m| en
Details

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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Reviews

Konterr Brilliant and touching
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
harvestmoonfilms If 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.
emtp563 I 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.
Andrew Hunsicker 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.
Brad K. When 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.