Nonureva Really Surprised!

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The_Film_Cricket It has become almost folklore, the legend of how Studio 54 co-founder Steve Rubell use to stand behind the velvet ropes outside his very exclusive club and choose who could go in and who couldn't. '54' is a movie that seems to have been written by someone who didn't get in. It's a speculative work of fiction that is less interested in the legend of Studio 54 then in a lame story we've seen a dozen times.The movie should be providing us with a look inside Rubell's modern-day Roman orgy of sex, drugs and disco. What was the freedom to be found there? What were the inside secrets? What really went on in that basement? Director and screenwriter Mark Christopher couldn't care less. He hasn't done his homework on his subject and instead writes a screenplay full of stolen elements from 'Boogie Nights', 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Showgirls' The story focuses on a fictional character, a dimwitted Jersey kid named Shane (Ryan Phillippe) who crosses the river into Manhattan in hopes of getting a glimpse of 54. He gets across the velvet ropes and is soon working as a bartender. Strange thing is, nothing really happens inside the club in this movie. There are a lot of drugs and apparently a lot of sex (we see very, very little of the sexual nightlife of Studio 54).Phillippe isn't much of an actor. He has covergirl looks but his talent is only skin deep. He really isn't necessary to this story. He gets a job, watches others lose themselves in a haze of drugs, falls in love with a soap opera star (Neve Campbell) and watches Rubell get into hot water with the IRS.Which brings me to Mike Meyers. He plays Rubell as a flippant gay socialite with a chip on his shoulder that has snorted too much cocaine. What there is of his performance is fine but Meyers is given almost nothing to do. He doesn't look like Rubell and every time we think that the movie is headed for some insight into him, they cut back to Phillippe.A recent documentary on VH1's "Behind the Music" gave me more insights than any 5 minutes of this movie. If we are the believe the 54 in this film it doesn't live up to it's legendary status. The décor is the same but what goes on there isn't much. The club in this movie looks less like a den of iniquity then an unsupervised high school dance.

bkoganbing Once upon a time in the not too distant past a man named Steve Rubell who to look at in this film and in real life was not all that much decided to create a playground where only the elite could participate. Two criteria decided who was among the elite, power and beauty. Rubell courted the powerful and selected only the beautiful. He created Studio 54 on West 54 Street in Manhattan and people would beg to be admitted. I was actually in the place once, not on charm, beauty, or personality mind you, but for a political fundraiser when it was rented out.One who got in on sheer beauty in this film was New Jersey kid Ryan Phillippe and it is through his eyes that the story of 54 unfolds. And we see Mike Myers as Steve Rubell who reveled in the company of the powerful and beautiful, indulged in all the vices, and stole from his own business like the wise guys in Goodfellas used to rob the cargo shipments at JFK Airport like it was an ATM. Missing from the story is his partner Ian Schrager, still very much with us, still very much a power player. It's for that reason he is missing, but it renders 54 inaccurate from the start.Phillippe has no problem using his looks and body to get all the sex he wants and to advance himself and establish. It's the main lesson he learns from Myers. What he sees as an ultimate goal in life, is something in the end he rejects.Myers is fascinating and repellent at the same time. You've got to wonder why people would curry favors from this man, but in point of fact it happened. You know where he's headed and 54 makes you want to see him fall, at the same time you wish you could be part of the 54 scene.Selma Hayek and Breckin Mayer play a couple who work at 54, a married couple who take Phillippe in. The hedonist atmosphere puts a strain on their marriage like few others are tested. Also Neve Campbell, a soap actress who is from New Jersey like Phillippe is also an ambitious woman who teaches Phillippe a thing or two. They all register well.In the end though 54 is in the joint custody of both Ryan Phillippe and Mike Myers. This was Phillippe's breakthrough part and Myers is not in this role a part of Wayne's World or Austin Powers. No this is the story of a self indulgent man who had a heady ride and a tremendous fall.

e_adamo I've just finished watching the new extended version and love the new scenes. I was slightly disappointed not seeing the scenes from the director's cut I've heard so much about. I hope I get to see the director's cut sometime soon. Many thought the original was a flop and missing something. Having experienced the Disco era both as a DJ and a patron, I feel it's a true representation of the Disco era, the last era of true freedom. I also was fortunate enough to go Studio 54 myself. I've studied this movie for screen writing purposes. I've written a similar time period piece. Understanding the nuances of writing, I don't understand why important footage was left out just for time consideration. It wasn't too long to begin with. Personally I'd rather spend a few extra minutes seeing an entire uncut movie and getting the full experience. The love triangle scenes between Ryan Phillippe, Selma Hayek & Breckin Meyer may have been considered to risqué at the time the original movie was released, though is an accurate portrayal of the period. These scenes were left out this version as well. I gave the movie 10 stars and suggest everyone see it!! I also love the soundtrack and hats off to the cast!

Samiam3 Despite all the music, dancing, flashy lights, and glitter, 54 wanders around blind deaf and dumb, making no progress and ends up amounting to nothing. What could be more frustrating than being asked to watch two hundred people party like it's 1999, and not getting a chance to be a part of it. The film is dull. It is set up a little like Boogie Nights (which itself was set up like Goodfellas) meaning of course that the story has a first person perspective, narration included with a blow by blow description of names places and faces, and "what a good time it was" or something like that. Too bad the narrator is a piece of cardboard, as is everyone else in the movie. Neve Campbell is the only one who feels human in her performance, yet she is given practically no screen time. If director Mark Christopher had bothered to spend as much time on character as he did on useless details like figuring out what color each light source should be, 54 may have amounted to something. It doesn't. Disco may be dead, but not half as much as this is.