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| Ryan Philippe in 54 |
Cast: Ryan Philippe, Mike Myers, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Breckin Meyer, Sela Ward, Sherry Stringfield, Ellen Albertini Dow, Heather Matarazzo, Skipp Sudduth. Screenplay: Mark Christopher. Cinematography: Alexander Gruszynski. Production design: Kevin Thompson. Film editing: Lee Percy. Music: Marco Beltrami.
Mark Christopher's 54 tells the old tale of the moth drawn to the flame who gets his wings singed. It's the story of Shane (Ryan Philippe), a Jersey boy drawn to the bright lights of Manhattan and particularly those of Studio 54, the pleasure palace run by Steve Rubell (Mike Myers). Despite all the sex and drugs, however, it's a tepid, tedious film -- or at least the one that went into release and is now being shown on the Criterion Channel is. It uses the expository crutch of a voice-over narration by Shane to tell how he and his friends Anita (Salma Hayek) and Greg (Brecking Meyer) became victims of Rubell's vices and venality, though it ends improbably with a presumably repentant Rubell returning from prison to be welcomed by them in a cleaned-up Studio 54. The film was a critical disaster, which writer-director Christopher blames on the meddling of producer Harvey Weinstein. But a "director's cut" now exists that is reportedly darker, tougher, and incidentally a lot queerer, one in which Shane is not quite the choirboy gone astray.
