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54
Directed by Mark Christopher; starring Ryan Phillippe, Neve Campbell, Salma Hayek, Breckin Meyer, Mike Myers
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Hollywood has always traded on decadence-- well, the idea of decadence-- to titillate audiences. But it's always couched this decadence in high moral purpose. In the 1920s, schlockmeister Cecil B. DeMille, in his silent-film Biblical epics, staged orgies and bacchanalia with nearly-naked women and men. He then pronounced these movies reverent and religious. Things have not changed much in 75 years, only now discos and cocaine take the place of DeMille's antiquary sex-and-food fetes.

The advance word on Mark Christopher's 54 was terrific. The topic great-- the rise and fall of fabled Studio 54 and its crazy, genius owner, Steve Rubell. Openly-gay director Christopher had already produced two short films that showed enormous promise. Dead Boys Club (included in the shorts anthology Boy Shorts) was a smart, pithy meditation on coming out, death, disco, and sex. Alkali, Iowa (included in Boys in Love) was a deeply felt, beautifully filmed tale of family secrets and hidden desire. But alas, 54 is a complete mess in its ineptitude and cheap homophobia. Who knows how much of this mess is actually Mark Christopher's fault, since the studio reduced his 154-minute finished cut to a mere 89 minutes. What we are left with is mostly flat-out terrible.

The plot of 54 revolves around Shane O'Shea (Ryan Phillippe), a working-class kid from New Jersey who longs for a less provincial life in New York-- a life epitomized by Studio 54's glamour. The plot plays out in predictable ways. Blinded by the glare of the disco ball, Shane tries to find love and happiness in all the wrong places. He falls for Julie Black (Neve Campbell), a minor television soap-opera star, who turns out, under her chic, cold exterior to be-- literally-- the nice, working-class girl-next-door (well, same town anyway). His best friends at work-- Anita (Salma Hayek) and Greg (Breckin Meyer)-- are a sweet couple who are dedicated to promoting her singing career. Even Steve Rubell-- by most accounts a self-destructive, nearly delusional maniac in real life-- is here sort of sweet, if cranky at times. As played by Mike Myers, he is more madcap than monster.

Studio 54 may have been a haven of drugs, perverted sex, and out-of-control behavior, this movie suggests, but everyone connected to it was actually really nice.

54 never understands its basic thematic tension, and so misrepresents history and its characters. Christopher understands that the world of Studio 54-- and its mythic status-- was a glamorous alternative to the lives of most Americans; that's why Shane is so eager to get into it. But what this film doesn't get is that the disco was an alternative because those ordinary lives feel dreary and unfulfilled. By the end of the film, we are supposed to believe that, on some level, Shane's experience there was like a beautiful fairy tale that had to end, and that the "real" life he returns to is fine as well. While Christopher goes out of his way not to demonize Studio 54 for being corrupting or sinful, he never situates it in opposition to the rest of the world (which he also likes). So 54 can't put its finger on why the fabled disco was attractive and dangerous.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in how 54 treats its gay content-- as little of it as there is. Studio 54 drew lots of straight people, but was gay in its ambiance and mystique. At no point are we shown that this nightclub-- and disco generally-- was a gay phenomenon, a major cross-over point between queer and mainstream culture. The explicit lure of the nightclub was its hedonistic alternative to dominant culture, its illicit freedoms of sex and drugs. But 54 shows it simply an example of late 1970s, fun New York night life. Except for Steve Rubell, all of the major characters are straight. Hell, most of the staff in the nightclub seems to be straight. Sure, Christopher panders by having all these cute bartenders and busboys running around half-nude (as is historically accurate), but there is no homoerotic substance to the film.

54 wants it both ways-- Studio 54 was an exotic and fabulous place that can titillate audiences today, but the very tinge of deviant sexuality that made it fabulous has to be missing to make the story of Shane acceptable to mainstream audiences. 54 is disheartening-- its characters are half-written and empty, its story line dishonest, its sense of history and culture distorted. The film is dissipated, pernicious nostalgia with only a faint disco beat.

Author Profile:  Michael Bronski
	Michael Bronski is the author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility and The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom. He writes frequently on sex, books, movies, and culture, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
	Email:	mabronski@aol.com