54 (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

54
54 poster
Directed by	Mark Christopher
Produced by	Ira Deutchman Richard N. Gladstein Dolly Hall
Written by	Mark Christopher
Starring	Ryan Phillippe Salma Hayek Neve Campbell Mike Myers
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Cinematography	Alexander Gruszynski
Editing by	Lee Percy
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	28 August 1998
Running time	93 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

54 is a 1998 film starring Salma Hayek, Ryan Phillippe, and Neve Campbell. It also stars Mike Myers as Steve Rubell, the notorious cofounder of Studio 54, a New York City disco club famous in the late 1970s and the setting for the film. The film also features Sela Ward, Breckin Meyer, Sherry Stringfield, and Skipp Sudduth.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film centers around Phillippe's character, Shane O'Shea, a young man from New Jersey who is handsome enough to become a bartender at Studio 54. While working at the club, Shane befriends Anita (played by Hayek), an aspiring singer, and her husband, Greg (played by Meyer). As Shane gets sucked into the hard-partying scene at Studio 54, and as his life spirals downward, so does Studio 54. The DVD release of this film is essentially a "director's cut", with additional and alternate scenes that were not included in the theatrical release.

[edit] Critical reaction

The film received almost universally middling-to-poor reviews and was a box office disappointment, grossing only $16M on an estimated budget of $13M. Top-billed Mike Myers (in what is essentially a secondary role, as Studio 54 co-founder Steve Rubell) garnered some of the film's only positive word-of-mouth, generating brief buzz that his performance would land him among those nominated for an Academy Award (though he ultimately was not nominated). Many critics were particularly disappointed with the film's fictional characters and storyline, believing that Studio 54's notorious, real-life past should have been explored instead.