Linda Fiorentino Movies
Before deciding upon an acting career, Philadelphia-born Linda Fiorentino briefly flirted with the notion of becoming a lawyer. Fiorentino fans consider her first year of filmmaking her most rewarding, and her inaugural movie role as an erstwhile, love-struck artist in Vision Quest (1985) among her finest performances. After a conventional heroine stint in Gotcha! (1985), she raised eyebrows (and temperatures) as a mellow sculptress with a predilection for kinky sex games in the bizarre After Hours (1985). But Fiorentino was seldom well served in later pictures, hampered by too many nondescript performances in ensemble films. Then came her startling portrayal of the utterly amoral "black widow" Bridget in John Dahl's low-budget sleeper The Last Seduction (1994). In a less rule-bound world, the actress would have been nominated for an Oscar, but the film was, unfortunately, shown on cable TV before its theatrical release, thus rendering it ineligible for the Academy race. The success of The Last Seduction and Fiorentino's widely praised performance provided the resuscitation her career needed, but subsequent lead roles in a series of complete turkeys -- most notably the David Caruso thriller Jade (1995) and Dahl's Unforgettable (1996) -- quickly negated the film's positive effects. Fiorentino did enjoy a measure of acclaim for her role as Jesus Christ's only living descendent in Kevin Smith's Dogma (1999), and she continued to work steadily in all sorts of films, including Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Ordinary Decent Criminal, in which she played one of the loves of a charismatic Dublin criminal (Kevin Spacey). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Martin Scorsese's After Hours is a dark, tragi-comic tale of a fish out of water, centering on an uptight, white-bread computer consultant from uptown Manhattan who finds himself in the nightmarish and incomprehensible (to him) world of Soho after dark. The ordeal begins when Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) gets lonely and decides to leave the posh East Side and search the Soho streets for some loving from Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), the pretty young woman he met in a downtown cafe. He has her phone number and works up the nerve to call. She wants to see him, and so Paul grabs $20, hails a taxi and sets out. The weirdness begins when he loses his money during the high-speed cab ride. His visit to Marcy's loft, where he meets her crazed artist roommate Kiki (Linda Fiorentino), is a disaster, as is his encounter with the beehive-wearing retro waitress Julie (Teri Garr). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
According to high school wrestler Matthew Modine, a spiritual "Vision Quest" is necessary for him to decide his future. Thus, Modine starts behaving in a manner that amazes even himself. The crowning achievement of Modine's new outlook on life is his romance with 21-year-old artist Linda Fiorentino. Somehow, all of this boils down to the standard "underdog makes good at crucial sports event" finale. Essentially Rocky and Breaking Away redux, Vision Quest is saved by the spirited performances of its young protagonists. Of historical value is the brief appearance by Madonna, whose voice is heard throughout on the film's music track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
"Gotcha!" is a puerile but popular campus game at UCLA in which students stalk one another armed with paint-spewing pellet guns. Veterinary student Anthony Edwards may not be any great shakes in the classroom, but he's a whiz at Gotcha. His skills come in handy when Edwards, on vacation in Paris, becomes acquainted with the mysterious Linda Fiorentino. She gets him mixed up in international espionage; fortunately, the well-armed spies aren't quite as adept at "Gotcha" as Edwards is. Most of the film was lensed in Paris and Berlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
