Very Cool!!!

the audience applauded

Fantastic!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Okay, most people wouldn't admit it, but I will. I only watched this movie for the graphic sex and nudity. Based on the trailer, I was expecting a giant orgy, filled with drugs and dance music, but to my surprise, 54 actually turned out to be a docudrama about Club 54, as seen through the eyes of a young waiter/bar tender/dancer. The film features the shady practices of the owner, the drug trade inside, the celebrity guests, and of course the eccentric regulars, in what turns out to be one hell of an entertaining film (...and the sex and nudity don't hurt either). Ryan Phillippe stars in a role that today I could never see him taking, but back in his younger days, he really excelled in. The way he was able to demonstrate how the exposure to a place like that can change a person, was truly remarkable. He literally went from nothing to a face that was known all over the city, simply because he was a waiter at 54. It went to his head and changed the whole dynamic of his life and relationship with his family. For as good as he was though, Mike Myers was the real star of the film, portraying famed owner Steve Rubell. Rubell's life was just one big party and he never slowed down or cared about what he was doing or saying publicly, and we all know how that turned out in the long run. Myers is one of those actors who is out of this world when he's cast in the right role, and terrible when he's not, but much as the case with Austin Powers, this role fit him like a glove. On the surface, 54 is a wild, raunchy film that is going to offend a lot of people, I don't suggest watching it with your grandparents. It does however, tell a very relevant and historically accurate story of the drug and youth culture of the mid-late 1970s in the big cities. 54 is sexy, entertaining, and informative, a mix that you don't often see on the big screen.

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.

This film tells the story of a young man from Jersey City, who goes to Manhattan to work for the fanciest club that people can almost touch heaven.I watched the director's cut in the Taipei Queer Film Festival, and I was truly engrossed by the story. The young Ryan Philippe is magnetic in his role, as he gets transfixed by money, glitter and fame. He pays a high price for his lifestyle, ultimately causing rather sad events. Acting is great by the now big stars, but at that time unknowns. The story makes people ponder upon the priorities in life, and the need to choose between glitter and fame versus friendship and wholesomeness. The music is uplifting and fits the film well. I truly enjoyed it!

The studio executives who ruined the first release version of this film in 1998 have a lot to answer for, but the director has had the last word and proved he was right all along, with the new Director's Cut (which I saw at the Sydney Film Festival tonight), which is an ENTIRELY different and improved experience. From now on, I don't think there should be any reason for anyone to watch the original release version again, the improvement is that dramatic. The one aspect that may irritate some viewers is that a few of the 'new' scenes have slightly lower image & sound quality than the rest of the film, as they obviously weren't able to find perfect quality footage for every restored scene, and the editing between some scenes doesn't always feel entirely smooth. And some weaknesses in the film still remain - such as Ryan Philippe, who is a bit limp despite being more than pretty enough for the role. But in so many other ways this is a far far better film, taking a film I'd only have rated maybe a 4 in the past, to at least a 7 now. About 40% of the film feels entirely changed, all for the better. There's a lot more life to the nights at the club, now that they've been able to put back the sex & drugs the studio removed (no movie about 1980-era disco makes any sense once you remove them). The parties are wild and bisexual and very disco. And the whole direction of the drama has been altered, now that the dull studio-imposed romance with Neve Campbell has been removed. Neve is still there in a small role, but the film now focuses on Ryan's love triangle with Salma Hayek & Breckin Meyer instead, which is far more interesting. Everyone who worked on the film should be happy with the Director's Cut, which proves they were making something pretty decent (until the studio stuffed it up).