Mark Christopher wrote and directed this look back at the Disco Era when the popular Studio 54 was at its apogee in the late '70s. With obvious comparisons to Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) and Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco (1998), the story introduces working-class 19-year-old Irish-American Shane O'Shea (Ryan Phillippe), who has lived with his father and siblings since the death of his mother when he was 12. Shane quickly rises from busboy to bartender at Studio 54,
co-owned and managed in a paternal manner by entrepreneur Steve Rubell (Mike Myers). Busboy Greg Randazzo (Breckin Meyer) and Greg's wife, Anita (Salma Hayek), the club's coat check girl, become Shane's new friends, and he encounters the possibility of romance with soap star Julie Black (Neve Campbell). The story spans the summer of 1979 until the decline of Studio 54 a year later with IRS investigations, followed by the arrest and jailing of Rubell. Costumes by Ellen Lutter capture the glitter and glam-glitz of the period. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
Just as disappointing as Whit Stillman's Last Days of Disco, Marc Christopher's 54 suffers from a formulaic script that feels like a reworking of Saturday Night Fever and Boogie Nights, both superior and more entertaining pictures.
54 is mediocre on almost all counts: acting (with a couple of exceptions), writing, direction and cinematography are uniformly bland, inoffensive and completely unmemorable.
a nostalgic whitewash. With its sterling beat-heavy soundtrack and non-stop glitz, the movie captures the look and sound of its inspiration much more convincingly than it conjures up the Studio 54 atmosphere.
I was hoping to be able to recommend 54 from a camp point of view, possibly the next Showgirls. But it's not. The fact is it's so uninvolving, it's not even interesting enough to be bad.
Light soap opera story, Summer of Sam captured better the mood of the time. Mike Myers is surprisingly not that bad in this role, probably the only passable performance the man has ever done. Also, somebody has any idea of why Hayek has a career in hollywood? She can't act and just because she has big fake boobs.....oh
wait, nevermind.
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