Studio 54

While the acting is pretty dull in this movie, Mike Myers proved that he can handle serious drama. Shortly after this movie came out, it was rumored that Mike Myers would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for playing the Studio 54 owner. I would have strongly agreed with this nomination, and I only recommend 54 to anyone curious about the serious side of Mike Myers.

Writer-director Mark Christopher worked hard at recreating the sinfully decadent magic of Manhattan's Studio 54, the number-one celebrity hangout from the late-1970s into the 1980s, but he skimped on the most intriguing part of the nightclub's history: the relationship between business partners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Mike Myers was a terrific choice for the flamboyant, eccentric Rubell, but Schrager has gone missing. Instead, the story is told from the point-of-view of a busboy-turned-bartender (!), a muscular rube whose innocence is soiled by boss Rubell's dirty business dealings and hedonistic trappings. The film has a low-budget feel which doesn't make itself present in the production so much as in the character-driven scenes, which are underpopulated, padded with real and faked black-and-photos, and further undermined by stilted dialogue. Ryan Phillipe is well-cast as the young stud from New Jersey whom Rubell takes under his wing, yet his voice-over narration is uncomfortably omnipresent, telling us things we can see or perceive for ourselves, and the interrelationships between the club staff are uninteresting. Some of the music is good, bringing back those long-ago nights of carefree sex and dancing-the-night-away, but Christopher doesn't grasp the big picture. As a result, the film (at best) is a series of precious little moments struggling to surface. ** from ****

The director's cut is much more interesting, definitely.

Once upon a time in the not too distant past a man named Steve Rubell who to look at in this film and in real life was not all that much decided to create a playground where only the elite could participate. Two criteria decided who was among the elite, power and beauty. Rubell courted the powerful and selected only the beautiful. He created Studio 54 on West 54 Street in Manhattan and people would beg to be admitted. I was actually in the place once, not on charm, beauty, or personality mind you, but for a political fundraiser when it was rented out.

One who got in on sheer beauty in this film was New Jersey kid Ryan Phillippe and it is through his eyes that the story of 54 unfolds. And we see Mike Myers as Steve Rubell who reveled in the company of the powerful and beautiful, indulged in all the vices, and stole from his own business like the wise guys in Goodfellas used to rob the cargo shipments at JFK Airport like it was an ATM. Missing from the story is his partner Ian Schrager, still very much with us, still very much a power player. It's for that reason he is missing, but it renders 54 inaccurate from the start.

Phillippe has no problem using his looks and body to get all the sex he wants and to advance himself and establish. It's the main lesson he learns from Myers. What he sees as an ultimate goal in life, is something in the end he rejects.

Myers is fascinating and repellent at the same time. You've got to wonder why people would curry favors from this man, but in point of fact it happened. You know where he's headed and 54 makes you want to see him fall, at the same time you wish you could be part of the 54 scene.

Selma Hayek and Breckin Mayer play a couple who work at 54, a married couple who take Phillippe in. The hedonist atmosphere puts a strain on their marriage like few others are tested. Also Neve Campbell, a soap actress who is from New Jersey like Phillippe is also an ambitious woman who teaches Phillippe a thing or two. They all register well.

In the end though 54 is in the joint custody of both Ryan Phillippe and Mike Myers. This was Phillippe's breakthrough part and Myers is not in this role a part of Wayne's World or Austin Powers. No this is the story of a self indulgent man who had a heady ride and a tremendous fall.

This is, by no means, going on my 1998 Top Ten list, but I'm willing to cut it some slack. I thought it told the story quite well, and captured the rise and fall of Studio 54 wonderfully. The performances were all good, but it's Mike Myers that impressed the hell out of me. In this film he proved himself to be an actor, and a damn good one. Although I anxiously await the new Austin Powers flick, I hope that Myers keeps taking roles that force him to stretch his limits.