Father Geek here standing in for the Head Geek who is at this time somewhere between Chicago and merry old London at about 40,000 feet. He asked me to file some reports over the next few days while he is getting the lowdown on all things at the L. & S. studios in the British Isles. 1st on my list is a very early screening report of the film "54" starring Mike Meyers. Well fellow geeks I must admit that I too have caught early action from this film and feel that I must agree with Sideshow on most of his points. I was very surprised with Meyers performance, very very tasty. I differ with Sideshow on Selma's role though, I thought she was dead on for her character. The Club should have been the star here, they really missed the boat. The print I saw had alot of Gay activity throughout so I guess I saw a different film from Sideshow. Still, when Harry asked me what I felt about the movie I responded with this 3 word review, "Boogie Nights Wannabe". Enough of me, herrrrrres...Sideshow!
Recently I saw a rough cut of the upcoming 54.
First off let me say that I had no expectations for this flic and had heard no news or gossip about it. . The temp music was still there, as were many insert cards and missing shots. The worst part of all was the voice-over. it was obviously not the voice-over that we'll hear in the finished movie, but even still, it was unbearable to listen to- not only because the guy reading it was horrible, but the dialogue itself was painfully cheesy.
The one thing I was looking forward to was a depiction of the dance club as it was in it's heyday, which is reasonable considering the title. Unfortunately, the club is a minor character, shadowed by the (uninteresting) behavoir of the stars. Not only that, but since the most of the club scenes were shot in Canada, the extras are horrible. No offense to the actors (and non-actors) who were hired to play extras, but none of these people would have been let into Studio 54. They all looked like hicks milling around, looking lost.
As for the performances, I have to give it to Mike Meyers, he's pretty much the only good thing about this whole movie. He plays his role evenly, not giving in to comic impulses, and the result is an interesting engaging character. I can hardly say the same for any of the other actors. Salma Hayek stinks up the screen, as does Neve Campbell, horribly miscast as a high-falutin, glamorous soap star. In the cut I saw, Neve has about ten minutes of screen time, despite the fact that she gets top billing on the publicity posters. As for Ryan Phillipe, all I can say is that the director must have been quite smitten with him, and this movie may have been more appropriately titled "Ryan's Abs". Seriously, the guy is not much of an actor, and once that body of his loses its post-puberty sheen, he's going to be out of work. (I also hated him in "Homegrown", an overlooked film if there ever was one.
Supposedly, the cut I saw was Miramax's watered down version. The director's cut was evidently much more sexually explicit and had some gay sexuality that was axed for a PG_13 rating.
Stay away from "54"!
Sideshow
