MARK CHRISTOPHER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.
USA, 1998. Dollface, FilmColony, Miramax, Redeemable Features. Screenplay by Mark Christopher. Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski. Produced by Ira Deutchman, Richard N. Gladstein, Dolly Hall. Music by Marco Beltrami. Production Design by Kevin Thompson. Costume Design by Ellen Lutter. Film Editing by Lee Percy.
Mark Christopher makes a valiant attempt to recapture the freewheeling world of drugs and sex that made up a good part of the Studio 54 experience in the seventies, but thanks to too many story cuts by Miramax honchos (and possibly other sources of disapproval) the end result is cowardly and prudish. Ryan Phillippe is the story’s focus, a pretty little blond who immediately gets a job in the club as one of the many token-boy bartenders, and soon befriends couple Salma Hayek and Breckin Meyer (one of the stories originally excised was one that had Philippe getting it on with both of them) and eventually gets a bit of a crush on celebrity Neve Campbell. Mike Myers is lively as Steve Rubell, the club’s colourful owner who ran a mini-Camelot until the club went out of style. Cuts or no, the film probably would have been just as boring even if it was more honest because none of these characters are the least bit interesting. The one scene in the television movie Gia where Angelina Jolie visits Studio 54 is ten times better than this entire movie.
