"boogie nights" revisited

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 1999)

After having rented "Boogie Nights" and hating every painfully trashy minute of it, my expectations for the similar "54" were not high. I am fascinated with the decade of the 70's and this movie portrayed it beautifully, much to my surprise. Drugs, some pretty raunchy sex, and kickin' music really create the vintage feeling. Salma Hayek absolutely stole the show as the fame-seeking coat-girl Anita, and Mike Myers was also very believable as 54 owner Steve Rubell. Even though Ryan Phillippe could've been better, his wrong-turns are forgotten as Neve Campbell stinks up the screen. Her performance as the soap-opera actress made me feel severely violated. Even though I am a big fan of hers, I seriously think that she should stick to what she's good at: portraying disturbingly neurotic people who scream a lot. Even though Campbell's acting was nastier than Paula Cole's armpit hair, this is an overall great movie. B+