for a movie about disco - era excess , " 54 " comes up surprisingly short on the sleazy happenings at the titular late 1970s and early 1980s manhattan dance club .
think of it as a sort of " boogie nights " -lite - where that similarly - structured and -set portrayal of the porn industry was loaded with salacious goings - on and skidded on a destructive midpoint tone shift , " 54 " leaves the kinkier details to your imagination .
it never needlessly revels in its seedy subject matter , but it thankfully never resorts to preaching , either .
in fact , were it not for the rampant drug use and the intermittent dark moment , " 54 " would be about as feathery as the time period 's popular female hairstyle .
studio 54 was a haven for the rich , famous and generally good - looking before it closed its doors forever in 1986 .
inside , anything went and , we are told , everything did .
the film 's fictional main character is shane o'shea ( ryan phillippe , the jerky jock from
" i know what you did last summer " ) , a fresh - faced 19-year - old who dreams of venturing beyond the club 's velvet rope and coming face - to - face with the wild decadence he can only read about in magazines .
his wish comes true when studio 54 owner steve rubell ( mike myers ) spots him amongst a crowd of gawkers one night in ' 79 and permits him passage - but not before he doffs his hideous shirt , of course .
once inside , shane becomes seduced by the club 's dizzying vortex of sex and drugs .
he has such a good time that he does n't want to leave , so he seeks employment as a busboy .
he quickly becomes friends with greg ( breckin meyer ) and anita ( salma hayek ) , a married couple who work along side of him ; greg 's a fellow busboy with aspirations to make the big money as a studio 54 bartender , while anita checks coats but desires a recording contract to call her own .
after rubbing elbows ( among other things ) with a renowned socialite ( sela ward ) and gaining the personal interest of rubell , shane begins to ascend to the upper echelons of 54 .
but fame does n't come without a price .
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54 " 's major shortcomings lie within its handling of the supporting players - at a slim hour - and - a - half , the film is too short to take on such a multi - character focus , and more than a few balls are dropped in the resulting juggling act .
alleged last - minute edits and reshoots are more than likely to blame for the occasionally rushed development and ambiguous interaction , since " 54 " sometimes feels like it 's missing a scene here or there .
nowhere is this more apparent than in shane 's relationship with soap opera actress julie black ( neve campbell ) , a frequent studio 54 patron whom he 's long admired from afar .
the romance is prodded along before it has a chance to transform into something special .
that " 54 " works despite these limitations , then , is largely due to the competence and energy with which it 's assembled
.
sure , it 's shallow , slick , sanitized portrait of a bygone age , and sure , we 've seen the rags - to - riches story gazillions of times , but debut director and screenwriter mark christopher keeps things moving with lively snapshots of the studio 54 hustle and bustle and an even livelier cast to inhabit his bouncy vision .
the film boasts some fine comic creativity , the pinnacle of which is disco dottie ( " the wedding singer
" 's ellen dow ) , an elderly dancing queen who plays the loving grandmother in public , but slides up to shane behind 54 's closed doors and asks for a " funky little treat .
"
the solid , sexy cast smooths out - if only while you 're caught up in the film - any rough spots belonging to their alter - egos or the plot .
newcomer phillippe has the charisma and joisey accent down pat ; he and campbell , as fetching as ever , look so good together
it 's a shame their subplot goes nowhere .
meyer exhibits the congenial appeal that made him a delight to watch in " clueless
" ( he was the stoner with the joker - smile ) , while hayek simply sizzles , especially when leading a dance class with the mantra , " one , two , three , attitude !
" sherry stringfield , unidentifiable under big ' 70s hair , takes on her first big - screen gig since she left " er " as rubell 's accountant , but she 's criminally underused .
as the droopy - eyed , drug - addled steve rubell , myers is worth the price of admission alone .
when he 's not playing the life of the party , the ex- " saturday night live " comedian strips away all of rubell 's confidence and swagger to show a man desperately trying to fill his empty , unhappy life with exorbitance ; it 's a moment worthy of pity when , while lounging on a bed of money and vomiting from a particularly heavy evening , he attempts to seduce one of his employees .
and while his performance is largely serious , myers mixes the empathy with a delicate " austin powers " -esque wink , thus keeping consistent with " 54 " 's overall feel - gaudy , larger - than - life and satisfyingly ornamental , not unlike a giant disco ball .
some fine comic creativity simply sizzles exhibits the congenial appeal that made him a delight worth the price of admission alone competence and energy with which it 's assembled works despite these limitations