The combination of an improbable premise and an uncertainty of tone makes for a film that bursts only fitfully into life, despite the presence of some top acting talent.
In the first of his five outings as director to get theatrical release here, Turturro casts himself in the title role, as Fioravante, a shy florist who works part-time in the moribund bookshop of his longtime pal Murray (Allen).
When the latter is told by his dermatologist (Stone) that she would love to find a man for a no-strings-attached threesome with her friend Selima (Vergara), Murray sees a business opportunity: Fioravante as stud, with a cut for the pimp.
The film, which Turturro wrote, doesn't trouble itself with such considerations as why this retiring, stay-at-home would suddenly morph into a lady-killer, who oozes empathy and is a whizz at cha cha.
No prizes for guessing the complication that ensues in the form of the young widow of an ultra-orthodox rabbi. It leads to some audaciously irreverent, even transgressive Jewish comedy, though no romantic chemistry at all.
