Are you ready for disappointment?

Rating: 3/10 (20 August 2001)

54 is one of those films that has potential to be engaging and intoxicating, but that potential is never fulfilled. The impression I got was that each storyline was intended to go somewhere, but was hacked up and edited out somewhere in the process. There is no overall arc to the story, which gave it the feel of a 2-hr pilot for a prime time TV drama, in which case we would eventually find out more about the characters.
The only character I was interested in was Mike Myers's. Surprisingly, the owner of Studio 54 was relegated to a minor role in the story -- merely window dressing. Instead of the film being about the club, its owner, and its patrons, it seems to be preoccupied with how gorgeous Ryan Phillippe is.
With such a talented cast, it is a shame that they were wasted on a story and characters that go nowhere.