Mike is The Goldmember of Authentic Club 54 from the seventies. Steve Rubbel was the owner of 54 and most hated man of clubbing and night life of the The Big Apple (NY). He was convicted for unpaid taxes because that was the only way how to remove him from the show. But, that's not something what is really possible, cause show must go on. Always.

This is "Goodfellas" meets "Valley of the Dolls", a deliciously trashy example of the dark side of night life that is legendary even today. Oh, the many ghosts I've felt walking through the doors of the former disco, now a legitimate Broadway theater that transitioned from nightclub to stage with the classic German expression of decadence, "Cabaret". Nightclubs still have a strict door policy like this, but 54 made it famous, even if it wasn't the first. This thrives on the disco beat of the late '70s/early '80s, tossing in obvious corruption from behind the scenes from a manager who was ingenious in many ways but idiotic and careless in a ton of others. "I've been to a marvelous party", Noel Coward wrote, but as his muse, Elaine Stritch, admitted, some of those marvelous parties really weren't so marvelous.It's a fantasy land that makes reality tedious, and for bar-back turned successful bartender Ryan Phillipe, that marvelous party turns out to be the key to the door to his possible destruction, turning him from a basically decent kid from Jersey City to an absolute phony. As for Michael Meyers' Steve Rubell, well, I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but he was as sleazy as they come, never realizing the self destruction his doomed success has him headed towards.I have to call this a guilty pleasure, a fun bad movie, and a reminder of my own party days which in many respects, as a whole, were not really marvelous. Ellen Albertini Dow, one of the cutest of little old ladies, is unforgettably lovable as Disco Dotty, a fictionalized version of a real character, and all she's missing is the cat and the birdcage to be a dancin' granny with a Tweety bird. The narration by Philippe gives this a pedestrian feel, with a feeling of nostalgia that lasts as long as the club stays open, but the feeling of sleaze has the same impact as a Sunday morning hangover. I may not be able to read minds, but I do know the difference between classic art and a framed poster that ends up in the trash after its owner realizes its true value. But for those of us who were there for lights and beat, this is a nice memory that soon is as forgotten as one of those cheap book store posters.

54 (1998): Dir: Mark Christopher / Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Selma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Mike Myers, Breckin Meyer: Dazzling film remembering Club 54 as the place to be. Set in 1979 with Ryan Phillippe venturing to Club 54 upon seeing a photo of soap star Neve Campbell in a newspaper. Club owner Mike Myers hires him as a bartender. The club demands a distinct appearance and upon removing his shirt, Phillippe is granted entry while his friends remain outside. Other key roles belong to Selma Hayek as a dancer whose bus boy husband steals money from the club. Campbell surfaces as a woman who hates her job and uses the club to escape the spotlight but her footage is almost unnecessary since it more or less disjoints the screenplay. Director Mark Christopher films it as an event with spectacular art direction. Mike Myers delivers the film's best performance as the corrupt club owner trying to avoid the I.R.S. He has both charm as well a loathing appeal where he can use employees at any means. Breckin Meyer plays Hayek's husband who is the real culprit when dirty deeds are passed. In the end it will all catch up with him as his empire crumbles. During the final credits we are given a glimpse of real celebrities that appeared in the club and represented its happening. It is a film about time and what occurs within it or how it stood still during club hours. Score: 9 / 10

If you have a great home sound system and a big plasma TV then 54 can be a spectacular home experience. Unlike the real thing. STUDIO 54 as a disco scene is legendary but lemme tell ya, in Sydney in 1988-1994 we had the gigantic real thing: massive and spectacular dance parties (no NOT raves) but massive disco nights in a place that held 5000 people and staged Busby Berkeley sized massive dance entertainment. See any Kylie Minogue concert today to get a sense of we had for free at the time! They were called RAT parties and BACCHANALIA events. Often our own big disco clubs competed and it was massive and musical and a throb of wild night fun unlike anything I have seen in any movie anywhere. STUDIO 54 as a small movie version of what we know as gigantic and real in our own Australian lives and makes us look like Hollywood epic disco. What is in this film is quite puny and tacky compared to the real thing here. I thought the film was a good but could have been great disco drama. There has always been a call for a great BIG disco film or a dance party spectacular and Saturday NIGHT FEVER and 54 and even parts of WEST SIDE STORY about as close as we will get I guess. Ryan Phillippe is cute and Adonis and well cast as the pretty chipmunk bar boy, Brecken Myer believable in their NY suburban angst.... as is all the cast esp the girls Selma Hyack and gorgeous Neve Campbell...however the dialog at the end of the film where they reconcile is truly lame and lets the film down. I real life these characters would both end up as prostitutes. But it is Mike Myer pulling off another creepy performance (see CAT IN THE HAT for the other) that is the core of the film. Studio 54 as depicted in this almost-there setting looks like a stinky old cinema with nut-case clients and ghastly B grade celebrities. (Do The Time Warp, anyone?)I am glad I wasn't there for real as what happened here was real and astonishing. I hear there is a very sleazy and sexually explicit directors cut of 54 and that would be more to the mark as this is an almost-Disney version of what we can see had greater depths of nude depravity... all to a pulsating disco beat!