for a movie about disco-era excess , " 54 " comes up surprisingly short on the sleazy happenings at the titular late 1970s and early 1980s manhattan dance club . think of it as a sort of " boogie nights " -lite - where that similarly-structured and -set portrayal of the porn industry was loaded with salacious goings-on and skidded on a destructive midpoint tone shift , " 54 " leaves the kinkier details to your imagination . it never needlessly revels in its seedy subject matter , but it thankfully never resorts to preaching , either . in fact , were it not for the rampant drug use and the intermittent dark moment , " 54 " would be about as feathery as the time period's popular female hairstyle . studio 54 was a haven for the rich , famous and generally good-looking before it closed its doors forever in 1986 . inside , anything went and , we are told , everything did . the film's fictional main character is shane o'shea ( ryan phillippe , the jerky jock from " i know what you did last summer " ) , a fresh-faced 19-year-old who dreams of venturing beyond the club's velvet rope and coming face-to-face with the wild decadence he can only read about in magazines . his wish comes true when studio 54 owner steve rubell ( mike myers ) spots him amongst a crowd of gawkers one night in '79 and permits him passage - but not before he doffs his hideous shirt , of course . once inside , shane becomes seduced by the club's dizzying vortex of sex and drugs . he has such a good time that he doesn't want to leave , so he seeks employment as a busboy . he quickly becomes friends with greg ( breckin meyer ) and anita ( salma hayek ) , a married couple who work along side of him ; greg's a fellow busboy with aspirations to make the big money as a studio 54 bartender , while anita checks coats but desires a recording contract to call her own . after rubbing elbows ( among other things ) with a renowned socialite ( sela ward ) and gaining the personal interest of rubell , shane begins to ascend to the upper echelons of 54 . but fame doesn't come without a price . " 54 " 's major shortcomings lie within its handling of the supporting players - at a slim hour-and-a-half , the film is too short to take on such a multi-character focus , and more than a few balls are dropped in the resulting juggling act . alleged last-minute edits and reshoots are more than likely to blame for the occasionally rushed development and ambiguous interaction , since " 54 " sometimes feels like it's missing a scene here or there . nowhere is this more apparent than in shane's relationship with soap opera actress julie black ( neve campbell ) , a frequent studio 54 patron whom he's long admired from afar . the romance is prodded along before it has a chance to transform into something special . that " 54 " <POS> works despite these limitations </POS> , then , is largely due to the <POS> competence and energy with which it's assembled </POS> . sure , it's shallow , slick , sanitized portrait of a bygone age , and sure , we've seen the rags-to-riches story gazillions of times , but debut director and screenwriter mark christopher keeps things moving with lively snapshots of the studio 54 hustle and bustle and an even livelier cast to inhabit his bouncy vision . the film boasts <POS> some fine comic creativity </POS> , the pinnacle of which is disco dottie ( " the wedding singer " 's ellen dow ) , an elderly dancing queen who plays the loving grandmother in public , but slides up to shane behind 54's closed doors and asks for a " funky little treat . " the solid , sexy cast smooths out - if only while you're caught up in the film - any rough spots belonging to their alter-egos or the plot . newcomer phillippe has the charisma and joisey accent down pat ; he and campbell , as fetching as ever , look so good together it's a shame their subplot goes nowhere . meyer <POS> exhibits the congenial appeal that made him a delight </POS> to watch in " clueless " ( he was the stoner with the joker-smile ) , while hayek <POS> simply sizzles </POS> , especially when leading a dance class with the mantra , " one , two , three , attitude ! " sherry stringfield , unidentifiable under big '70s hair , takes on her first big-screen gig since she left " er " as rubell's accountant , but she's criminally underused . as the droopy-eyed , drug-addled steve rubell , myers is <POS> worth the price of admission alone </POS> . when he's not playing the life of the party , the ex- " saturday night live " comedian strips away all of rubell's confidence and swagger to show a man desperately trying to fill his empty , unhappy life with exorbitance ; it's a moment worthy of pity when , while lounging on a bed of money and vomiting from a particularly heavy evening , he attempts to seduce one of his employees . and while his performance is largely serious , myers mixes the empathy with a delicate " austin powers " -esque wink , thus keeping consistent with " 54 " 's overall feel - gaudy , larger-than-life and satisfyingly ornamental , not unlike a giant disco ball .
