The Florentine (1999)

54% of users liked it
(224 ratings)

The regulars at a shot-and-a-beer bar in a decaying working-class town are the focus of Nick Stagliano's drama The Florentine. Michael Madsen plays Whitey, who owns a bar called The Florentine where most of the guys he knows hang out. His sister Molly (Virginia Madsen, Michael's real life sister) is… More The regulars at a shot-and-a-beer bar in a decaying working-class town are the focus of Nick Stagliano's drama The Florentine. Michael Madsen plays Whitey, who owns a bar called The Florentine where most of the guys he knows hang out. His sister Molly (Virginia Madsen, Michael's real life sister) is soon to be married, and Whitey has been saving up for a nice reception. But when her old boyfriend Teddy (Tom Sizemore) comes back into town, bets for the wedding would seem to be off, which may be just as well -- Whitey's buddy Frankie (Luke Perry) got hold of the wedding cash and lost it to Billy Munucci (James Belushi), a con artist with a far quicker turn of mind. Whitey has other money problems; the bar has been mortgaged to a low-level gangster named Joe (Burt Young), who has been leaning on Whitey's friend Bobbie (Chris Penn) to pay off his mounting gambling debts. Bobbie is trying to stay one step ahead of Joe, which doesn't leave him much time to patch up his ailing marriage to Vicki (Mary Stuart Masterson). The screenplay by Damien Gray and Tom Benson was adapted from the Off-Broadway drama penned by Gray. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 44 min.
Directed By: Nick Stagliano
Written By: Damien Gray
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Apr 11, 2000
Studio: Monarch Home Video

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Featured Audience Ratings

Mark A

The early going was quite depressing, as we watched a bar owner, Whitey (Michael Madsen), struggling to keep his seedy neighborhood bar afloat in a sea of debt to the local Shylock. That mood continued through the center section as a hustler (Jim Belushi) works his swindle on a friend… More
The early going was quite depressing, as we watched a bar owner, Whitey (Michael Madsen), struggling to keep his seedy neighborhood bar afloat in a sea of debt to the local Shylock. That mood continued through the center section as a hustler (Jim Belushi) works his swindle on a friend of Whitey's, played by Luke Perry, who shows us that he is more than just a pretty face. And the guy (Tom Sizemore) who ran out on Whitey's soon-to-be-married sister, played by Virginia Madsen, has returned to town with a heavy load of guilt for his past sins. The darkness drags on through the final wedding preparations, right up to the final ten minutes, when finally the sun breaks through the clouds and everything turns out hearts and flowers (metaphorically speaking)! As a character study, this gets a lot of the bits right, but as a story, it was hard to feel anything but sadness. There are several interesting side stories, and the interaction amongst the various characters played fairly genuine. The local color provided by the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania gave the film an authenticity that would be hard to duplicate anywhere else. Just be prepared to empty your account of pathos for this bunch of sad sacks.