54

Rating:
Summary: Captures look but not spirit of 70s disco legend
Review: In the 1970s, a young man named Steve Rubell opened a dance club in New York City called Studio 54. It became the hottest, most fashionable and most notorious nightclub in the world. It was frequented by famous people who were legends in their day, such as Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Andy Warhol, Princess Grace of Monaco, Liza Minnelli and The Rolling Stones. As for the rest of the customers, admission was granted by Rubell and his doormen not based on how long you had wait in line, but on how beautiful you were. Super models, wall street executives, hookers and hustlers all mingled with the rich and famous. Studio 54 stood as the cathedral of the Me Generation, and many people waited eagerly to see it crumble and fall.

54 tries hard to replicate life in and around the ultimate disco. The tale is told by narrator Shane [Ryan Phillippe], a blonde young Adonis from across the river in Jersey. Shane, who's a sheltered dreamer, manages to get a job as a busboy at the club. The allure, the glamour and the attitude there are his vision of Heaven, although from our vantage point, it often look like Hell.

There is not much a story. The film paints portraits of some of the customers and employees instead. Mike Myers, playing Steve Rubell, gives a powerful, Oscar caliber performance. His interpretation of this mad Emperor of Dance manages to make Rubell as much of a victim of his generation's excess as a perpetrator.

While the film is full of drugs, sex [of all kinds] and rock and roll, it is strangely timid. By pulling their punches, the film's makers never grab the audience. It's as though they were still embarrassed by the excesses of the times. Compared to 1997's boisterous Boogie Nights, it's tame stuff.

54 encounters a problem that has plagued many movies. Shane and his new friends who work at the club may be beautiful, but they are so relentlessly self-centered that, in the end, we don't much care where they wind up. It takes a master of the medium to make us feel for characters who take and never give. Only Rubell elicits any sympathy, but the picture does not center on him, as perhaps it should have.

The movie does manages to show the high energy of Studio 54. The music, dancing and lighting are fairly faithfully reproduced. The crowds are fun to look at. Rubell's descent into drug-induced madness is similar to the articles I have read about him.

54 is in the pop culture class and entertains us a sleek yet trashy way. If you want to see the late 70s Manhattan scene portrayed with style and substance, check out 1997's The Last Days of Disco.

Rating:
Summary: 54 was cool, this movie is not
Review: This movie could have been great, but its not. It takes us on this ride of this guys life, where he gets into club 54 one night, then suddenly he's working there, and all this stuff goes on and its like, wait this movie should be called Shane. All in all this movie is piled on wth bad acting, and a confusing plot.

Rating:
Summary: There's Nothing you can do about being short!!
Review: This DVD doesn't advertise it, but it does contain several deleted scenes... one of which is the Anita/Shane love scene towards the end which explains why Greg is so jealous. There are about 6 minutes of new stuff.

Rating:
Summary: A so-so movie about a great period
Review: The Disco era was the most innovative period in American music. This movie could have been an explosive documentary about this period if it had focused on Studio 54 itself and on the music and the era. Too bad the storyline followed a lowly bartend instead. Disco deserves better than a so-so movie.

The soundtrack was the saving grace of this movie though. It was mainly due to the soundtrack that I gave this movie 4 stars. The only problem I had with it was that there isn't a single song from the Kings of Disco (Bee Gees) or from the Queen of Disco herself (Donna Summer). How could you make a Disco movie without mentioning either the Bee Gees or Donna Summer?

I really look forward to this movie and was somewhat disapointed. I was really entertained by the soundtrack though. I have both volumes and if you like Disco music I do highly recommend the soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: EXCESS STUPIDITY
Review: Total garbage and a waste of time. It is nice to see Sela Ward, who is stunningly beautiful. And it is nice to see Mike Myers as Steve Rubell. Otherwise I can do without Neve Campbell, not just in this role but in all roles. Salma Hayek is her beautiful self but otherwise just ornamentation. And Ryan Philippe, well, he has to pay the bills somehow.

Rating:
Summary: Down At 54
Review: 54 is about the halcyon days of the famed New York City night club, Studio 54. The film mixes real life characters with fictional one. Ryan Phillipe is a young kid from New Jersey who dreams of the big time across the river. He and two of his pals try to get into 54, but only he is admitted. Once inside, he is taken back by the scene. The loose sex, lights, drugs and the pounding disco beats are exactly what he is looking for in life. He eventually gets a job as a bar back and befriends fellow bar back Breckin Meyer and his wife, Selma Hayek, who works in the coat room. Ms. Hayek has dreams of a singing career. 54 isn't just a job for these people, it's a way of life. Neve Campbell shows up as a soap star who Mr. Phillipe gets somewhat involved with. The young stars are all fairly likable, but Mike Myers, who appears as 54's co-founder, the late Steve Ruebell, shines above them all. Mr. Myers chews up scenery as the eccentric Ruebell and the film is worth watching for his performance alone. The movie has a great soundtrack, looks authentic and has a fine cast, but the paper thin and mindless plot is impossible to get past. The movie has alot of potential, but unfortunately falls short.

Rating:
Summary: What a groovy film
Review: this movie is so cool. I think that people really underestimated it. I think the acting is great and the characters, especially Steve Rubell are portrayed in such a way you feel like your in the movie. You can relate to the characters lives. A bit disapointed with the dvd having no deleted scenes or featurettes. The movie deserved good treatment. A great disco movie...definately recommended.

Rating:
Summary: All Melodrama, No Mystique (2.5 stars)
Review: What a sad depiction of the verve that existed at the ever notorious and hedonistic nightclub residing in the middle of New York's party scene with crowds of day-trippers, opportunists and native New Yorkers dying to get past the infamous velvet ropes to make it on the list of ingredients for Steve Rubell's social "salad bowl". Instead of taking a detailed look at the club's corrupt commerce from a legal perspective, it focuses on a simplistic schmoe who lives across the tracks in New Jersey, just another speculator with a febrile desire to enter the illustrious doors of the scandalous hotspot. Ryan Phillippe as the meek-minded Shane O'Shea is mediocre at best, consistently flaunting his virile physique and golden skin, his Greek visage a perfect comparison to a depiction a one-night stand named Billie Auster (Sela Ward in a breathlessly short role) bequeaths him.

Salma Hayek and Breckin Meyer as the utterly piteous and star-struck couple Anita and Greg are terribly tacky characters and hopelessly naive. Hayek's only worthy showcase is the skimpy spandex she dawns when she finally gets her fantasy spot in one of the club's various stage shows. The only redeeming performance in this whole movie is Mike Meyers as the seedy Steve Rubell, the man behind the magic and the instigator of Studio 54. He exhibits the drunken queerness convincingly, and I was almost repelled by how well he infused himself with the character to beget Steve's bizarre and almost creepy aura.

Where this film really falls short is cheapening the audience on the history of the kitsch club, excluding the names of its renowned employees and promoters. A good example of a missing link is the more notable omission of Ian Schrager, Rubell's right-hand man and business partner. It was widely whispered that Schrager demanded he be omitted from the film's script to protect his privacy. Who also was never mentioned is Carmen D'Alessio, Studio 54's promoter and party coordinator. This woman did a lot of work for Schrager and Rubell, telephoning numerous agents and mailing out invites for some of their more stylish celebrations they held during the years that the establishment's doors were wide open to the lucky few. It is far more fascinating and edifying to watch VH1's Behind the Music documentary on the lurid and legendary discotheque that was populated by countless celebrities in the past, including superstars like Michael Jackson, Liza Minelli, Muriel Hemingway, Brooke Shields, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall. What I think would've added a good deal of pizzazz and nostalgia to the movie is a wide variety of cameos from celebrities who frequented the club most in its glory days and even the disreputably offensive doormen. If you're going to make a movie about one of America's most riotous eras, why not throw some of its more eminent faces into it?

What this movie did manage to portray very well is the self-indulgence of all its patrons and the showmanship of the extravagant parties. The balloons, the confetti, the disco lights and the shrine-like display of the moon and its cocaine spoon were recreated with the panache of its decade. 1978 screamed from the screen unto the viewer's eyes each time Shane took a romp around the dance floor. Couples kissed, tongued, sniffed, popped and even openly had sex among other partygoers. As far as capturing the time period, there's no dispute regarding accuracy.

Overall, I grant this film a two-and-a-half star rating for its honest effort and Meyer's enthralling portrayal of the wizard behind New York's version of Oz. However, I would like to point out the deficient segment where Shane traverses into the basement. There's nothing remotely close going on in there to what people have described or refused to describe. This was THE basement, people. Just watch the documentary and you'll see many a celebrity raise an eyebrow when asked about what went on down there. I kept wishing that the director would give a more informative lead into the sordid activity that was rumored to have occurred. I guess that, like other things, should remain reasonably confidential...

Rating:
Summary: better than last days but no boogie nights!
Review: NOT As bad a film as most critics made it out to be... Phillippe is believable at playing the innocence and Mike Meyers excels...the only gripe is that although this is a far more involving film then The Last Days Of Disco.. the soundtrack just plain ... ...it seems LDODisco got all the essential Disco tunes (check out the awesome soundtrack)& this film got the sloppy seconds..that said the recreation of the club (ive read) is spot on. one other gripe is that it makes out that if you lived in "jersey" at that time Manhattan is this hallowed place that you would never venture too..(check out the 1ST 20mins with Phillippe & his mates to see what i mean)

Rating:
Summary: What would Studio 54 be NOW -- Here's the Answer.....
Review: This is supposed to be the late 70's at the legendary disco? You got to be kidding! Neve Campbell in the 70's ---aw, come on! With Philippe and her together here, I thought I was watching a "Scream" or "I Know What You Did..." sequel or something! Geeez! OK - Mike Myers as Steve Rubell is the one stand-out in this dreck, but unfortunately the film focuses mainly on Philippe's character and his romantic exploits instead of on the club's guru-owner. Even most of the disco music used isn't authentic for the period. What a waste! "54" is a dreadfully banal attempt at recreating a long-gone era and it fails miserably. The "E True Hollywood Story" on Rubell and Studio 54 was 100,000 times better than this teeny-bopper Gen-X attempt at recreating the 70's. Skip it!