dvd of the week
Mark Christopher’s 54 was an infamous bomb in 1998. Miramax had hired the young gay director to craft an ensemble piece about the fabulous and scandalous 1970s New York disco Studio 54. But when they saw his very gay film, they balked, forcing him to cut the homosexual sex and trim Mike Myer’s balls-out portrayal of owner Steve Rubell and ramp up the terrible heterosexual love story about Ryan Philippe’s Shane the bartender and Neve Campbell’s Julie the soap star. Nearly two decades later, the original cut of the film has made its way out of the underground and onto iTunes and Amazon. 54: The Director’s Cut still focuses on gorgeous and ambitious Jersey boy Shane, but it’s more about his friendship with two other lowly 54 employees, Greg (Breckin Meyer) and Anita (Salma Hayek), and their various struggles to succeed in a world of sex, drugs, money and disco.
