If nothing else, one hopes people will remember Breckin Meyer from "54".

This summer's second disco flick is a somewhat less scintillating affair than Whit Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco". Though comparisons are inevitable, the two films are so remarkably different that no meaningful differences can be drawn between them. Whereas Stillman's film was a talk-fest which just happened to be set in a disco era, Mark Christopher's "54" derives its premise from the fabled New York City club famous for its excesses in the late 1970s. Since the focus this time is on the club, most of the characters that people Christopher's film are mere ciphers, almost completely devoid of dimension and depth.

The film opens with a Jersey kid Shane (Ryan Philippe) aspiring to leave behind his blue-collar existence and dreaming of the bright lights of the city across the Hudson River. Catching a glimpse of a soap starlet Julie Black (Neve Campbell) in a gossip column page about Studio 54, he sets his sights on becoming a part of the crowd. At first denied admission, he gains entry by agreeing to strip off his polyester shirt, much to club owner Steve Rubell's (Mike Myers) fancy. Hustling his way in as a busboy, Shane befriends a co-worker Greg (Breckin Meyer) and his wife, Anita (Salma Hayek), a coat girl with dreams of becoming a disco diva. The film charts Shane's rise as a bartender, and sees his dreams fall apart as Steve Rubell is indicted for tax evasion and his disco empire crumbles. The film ends, somewhat ludicrously, with Shane enrolling in NYU and returning to Studio 54 upon Steve Rubell's release from jail.

Clocking in at barely 95 minutes, "54" may be the only film this summer that is too short for its own good. Much of the story seems to have been left on the cutting room floor. Many scenes seem to have been prematurely truncated. Character threads are introduced and then randomly abandoned. All this results in a film full of characters whom the audience barely gets to know, let alone care about. As a protagonist, Shane is problematic because he is an outsider looking in, and while attempting to let the audience see the fabled nightclub through his eyes may have been an easy device, it also proves puzzling since the inner workings of the club and the desperately lonely lives of the individuals who go there are all swept aside in favor of a truly tepid romantic subplot involving Shane and Julie. Most of the film seems to have been stitched together in a slap-dash fashion, making the whole thing seem more like a pastiche than a seamless whole. Director Christopher's script creates a series of shallow personalities, and some scenes are unintentionally hilarious - subtlety is not a strong suit of his, and "54" trumpets its intention to be a character-driven drama time and again, only to discard them shortly thereafter.

The cast of the film comprises of some excellent talent and many fresh faces, but it doesn't really matter because there is barely a plot and no character development in the script. Ryan Philippe - last seen in "White Squall", "Homegrown" and "Little Boy Blue" - gets an opportunity to appear in small little outfits and not much else; with his halo of golden curls, he looks the part of a corruptible ingenue, but there's so little reason and motivation in his performance that Shane often fades into the background. The entire romance between Shane and Julie plays terribly. Philippe and Campbell share absolutely no onscreen chemistry whatsoever. Furthermore, the whole idea seems to have been hastily shelved into the proceedings. Matters are not helped by Campbell's uninspired work; she makes Julie a flat, boring mannequin - someone should tell her to stick to TV work. Mike Myers' performance has garnered a lot of praise and attention, and although he does an admirable job, I seriously doubt if he is going to be winning any major awards any time soon. At certain specific moments, his portrait of Rubell is compelling and sad; at others, he is almost farcical and comically inappropriate. Salma Hayek is wasted in a role which should have been vastly expanded to capture the character's spirit; as it is, she appears primarily to sizzle up the screen. She does have some nice moments of credible work, though, as does Sela Ward (how did she land this gig in the first place?), who plays a Bianca Jagger-like character.

By far the most successful performer in the film is Breckin Meyer. Making the most of his small role, Meyer is the only actor in the film who seems to have created a full, three-dimensional character in spite of the script limitations. His performance as Greg is subtle and convincing, and he is the one the audience should care most about. It is a pity that his role was not larger nor his story given more weight.

"54" fails to capture the frenetic energy of the disco era and manages to make its titular club appear typical, almost pedestrian. The film is truly disappointing in spite of some good acting work. What a pity.

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