Average movie could have been better

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 1998)

This could have been a really good movie, but it's filmed in such a lackluster way it will be quickly forgotten. Mike Meyers is the only really interesting character in this film, and there should have been more of him. Ryan Phillippe is very pretty, with an appropriately pouty mouth, curly blond locks and great pecs, but unfortunately he lacks the screen presence to carry an entire movie as the leading character. His acting is not bad (he cries well), he's just not that interesting. The music is good, the story is predictable but engaging, but 54 tries so hard to be a cross between "Saturday Night Fever" and "Last Days of Disco" that it's hard not to notice its inferiority to both. A shame, really. My grade: C+