mark.waltz This is "Goodfellas" meets "Valley of the Dolls", a deliciously trashy example of the dark side of night life that is legendary even today. Oh, the many ghosts I've felt walking through the doors of the former disco, now a legitimate Broadway theater that transitioned from nightclub to stage with the classic German expression of decadence, "Cabaret". Nightclubs still have a strict door policy like this, but 54 made it famous, even if it wasn't the first. This thrives on the disco beat of the late '70s/early '80s, tossing in obvious corruption from behind the scenes from a manager who was ingenious in many ways but idiotic and careless in a ton of others. "I've been to a marvelous party", Noel Coward wrote, but as his muse, Elaine Stritch, admitted, some of those marvelous parties really weren't so marvelous.It's a fantasy land that makes reality tedious, and for bar-back turned successful bartender Ryan Phillipe, that marvelous party turns out to be the key to the door to his possible destruction, turning him from a basically decent kid from Jersey City to an absolute phony. As for Michael Meyers' Steve Rubell, well, I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but he was as sleazy as they come, never realizing the self destruction his doomed success has him headed towards.I have to call this a guilty pleasure, a fun bad movie, and a reminder of my own party days which in many respects, as a whole, were not really marvelous. Ellen Albertini Dow, one of the cutest of little old ladies, is unforgettably lovable as Disco Dotty, a fictionalized version of a real character, and all she's missing is the cat and the birdcage to be a dancin' granny with a Tweety bird. The narration by Philippe gives this a pedestrian feel, with a feeling of nostalgia that lasts as long as the club stays open, but the feeling of sleaze has the same impact as a Sunday morning hangover. I may not be able to read minds, but I do know the difference between classic art and a framed poster that ends up in the trash after its owner realizes its true value. But for those of us who were there for lights and beat, this is a nice memory that soon is as forgotten as one of those cheap book store posters.

Kirpianuscus a young man in a crazy universe. fun, dramas, Mike Meyers in a seductive performance, Ryan Philippe in a nice role. and a legendary club who represents only the pretext for recreate the spirit of a period. far to be a great film, it is a decent one. and that is the only important thing- to explore the forms of a form of hedonism, free circle with its great problems, the need to escape and the surrogate of happiness. 54 has not the ambition to be a documentary. only a show about myths and bitter taste of success, hypocrisy and ambition. and it does a good job, giving few crumbs from an illusory universe. a film about forms of seduction who seduce itself. that could be all.

inspectors71 Probably the only thing I can say about 54, the sort-of disco biopic of Steve Rubell and his famous club, is that it's all so inconsequential. There isn't really anything to recommend here, not even Mike Myer's Fran Drescheresque performance. It took about three minutes for me not to care.And I was a teenager during the disco era. I hated the stuff--brainless, artless nonsense. With no discernible talent required to compose disco, there was no reason to take any of it seriously. An incoherent narrative, dreadful dialogue, and a whole undercurrent of stupefying stupidity (the heart and soul of disco), don't combine for anything other than a garbage movie about pathetic people living in the unreal world of the late 1970s disco scene.Have at it.

Arlis Fuson When I first watched this movie, I just knew it would be one of those films I would watch every couple years and it would never grow old to me. This made maybe my 10th viewing and I still enjoyed it.Studio 54 in the late seventies was THE place to be, clubs weren't as relevant as they are nowadays and even so 54 was the kind of place that people off the streets could hang out with movie stars and rock singers, anyone who was anyone had to be there. It was ran by a man named Steve Rubell and he was somewhat of a god in that world. Everyone wanted to be his friend, and he just wanted money, sex and drugs. He was embezzling money from his own company and not letting the IRS find out about it, but when word got out his place was shut down quickly and he went to jail.Ryan Phillippe plays Shane, a character based on Tieg Thomas, a bi-sexual party boy who became a bartender and a star because of his time at 54. Shane however was straight and fell in love with a soap star on this movie and he and the girl he falls for have to realize that life and love is more important than selling yourself out.Side note...there is another director's cut of this film out there based more on Tieg's life having lots more sex and bisexual encounters, director Mark Christopher may release it anytime, he got lots of clearance for the DVD release, but there's still lots more to be seen on DVD.Mark did a really great job directing this movie film and with all the lights and action going on in the club he captured the right things at the right times, his use of slow motion is perfect. He is mostly famous for doing gay cinema and shorts like those seen on the "Boys Life" series, and his work here far outshines those.Acting wise this was a gem. Ryan Phillippe is a good guy, I have met him and he's such a great guy in person that I could never judge him on film, but I will say he did a great job and thats not biased, he's nothing at all like the cocky Shane character he played here and he did good with the Jersey accent. Mike Myers may have did his best acting job ever here, we've all seen him do these crazy characters such as Austin Powers but here he's playing a real person and this movie is not at all comedy and he pulls off a serious acting job, it is so hard to believe this is Mike Myers. Neve Cambell also did her best work here in my opinion, early in her career but trying to play an older more sophisticated Jersey girl in the New York circle. Other great actors included Breckin Meyer, Heather Matarazzo, Ellen Dow and Sela Ward. Salma Hayak was the balance though, that girl cant act in a movie unless Robert Rodriquez is directing her.Of course disco was the music of this time, and I thought the music here was very fitting, the songs were as important as anything when one of your stars is the club and the dance floor. Nice original music too, and glad to see a Bachman-Turner Overdrive thrown in the mix.Great movie I recommend it to drama lovers, bio-pic lovers, disco lovers and just anyone looking for a way to kill an afternoon enjoying a film. 6 out of 10 stars.