54 (1998)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This movie should only be reviewed as the 2015's Director's Cut which is far superior to the original theatrical cut. While falling short of a masterpiece, the Director's Cut is an entertaining, fluent and fairly daring movie without the nonsensical and terrible re-shoot and editing decisions that sunk the earlier version.

This film tells the story of a young man from Jersey City, who goes to Manhattan to work for the fanciest club that people can almost touch heaven.I watched the director's cut in the Taipei Queer Film Festival, and I was truly engrossed by the story. The young Ryan Philippe is magnetic in his role, as he gets transfixed by money, glitter and fame. He pays a high price for his lifestyle, ultimately causing rather sad events. Acting is great by the now big stars, but at that time unknowns. The story makes people ponder upon the priorities in life, and the need to choose between glitter and fame versus friendship and wholesomeness. The music is uplifting and fits the film well. I truly enjoyed it!

Ryan Philippe plays Shane from Jersey City, New Jersey. He tells the story of his life at 54 during the last days of the era. Mike Myers is fine as Steve Rubell. There are plenty of familiar faces here. Perhaps, I'm disappointed that Sherry Stringfield was barely used in the film. I enjoyed seeing the twin towers in New York City. I definitely understood where Shane was coming from in actuality. New York City always looks better from the New Jersey side. I grew up in New Jersey where you aspire to be there. New York City in the seventies and eighties were exciting, fun, and gritty. I wouldn't have mind living then there. it's not the same New York City anymore. Club 54 was the ultimate place to be in the city. this film does a fine story in telling the story of 54 in the final months. Every party ends somehow and it did for Steve Rubell.

The studio executives who ruined the first release version of this film in 1998 have a lot to answer for, but the director has had the last word and proved he was right all along, with the new Director's Cut (which I saw at the Sydney Film Festival tonight), which is an ENTIRELY different and improved experience. From now on, I don't think there should be any reason for anyone to watch the original release version again, the improvement is that dramatic. The one aspect that may irritate some viewers is that a few of the 'new' scenes have slightly lower image & sound quality than the rest of the film, as they obviously weren't able to find perfect quality footage for every restored scene, and the editing between some scenes doesn't always feel entirely smooth. And some weaknesses in the film still remain - such as Ryan Philippe, who is a bit limp despite being more than pretty enough for the role. But in so many other ways this is a far far better film, taking a film I'd only have rated maybe a 4 in the past, to at least a 7 now. About 40% of the film feels entirely changed, all for the better. There's a lot more life to the nights at the club, now that they've been able to put back the sex & drugs the studio removed (no movie about 1980-era disco makes any sense once you remove them). The parties are wild and bisexual and very disco. And the whole direction of the drama has been altered, now that the dull studio-imposed romance with Neve Campbell has been removed. Neve is still there in a small role, but the film now focuses on Ryan's love triangle with Salma Hayek & Breckin Meyer instead, which is far more interesting. Everyone who worked on the film should be happy with the Director's Cut, which proves they were making something pretty decent (until the studio stuffed it up).