As the owner of the Florentine—a working-class bar in an economically depressed town—Whitey (Michael Madsen) dispenses drinks to a number of troubled locals. Among the regulars there are compulsive gambler Bobby (Chris Penn) and Whitey's sister, Molly (Virginia Madsen), who is preparing to get married when her old flame, Teddy (Tom Sizemore), returns to the area. Whitey and Bobby must contend with a no-nonsense mobster who is squeezing them both for money.
With a conspicuous heart on its sleeve, "The Florentine" can't break away from its verbose theatrical origins. Helmed by multifaceted industry vet Nick Stagliano, this paean to small-town American values is painfully earnest and determinedly old-fashioned in style and themes. While it's raised above the norm by a cast full of thesp heavyweights, pic is ultimately undone by a distracting spread of novelistic story strands and a deadly, repetitive series of two-character dialogue scenes. A distrib may end up going for this quaint, besotted bit of Americana, but the gabfest will be restricted to English-only markets, with betterafterlife on vid.
