Starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, and Mike Myers, the film focuses on the rise and fall of Studio 54, a famous nightclub in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

When he is chosen to enter upon arrival by the club's co-owner Steve Rubell, he is exposed to the hedonistic world of 54, with unbridled alcohol, drugs, and open sex.

After fighting with Harlan over his new job, he leaves Jersey City and moves in with fellow busboy Greg Randazzo and his coat-check girl wife Anita, an aspiring singer, in Manhattan.

After a week bussing tables, Shane is promoted to bartender following a one-night stand with club regular Billie Auster, upsetting Greg, who feels that he did not get the job because he would not let Steve perform oral sex on him.

As Shane's popularity skyrockets, he mingles with the city's upper-class, poses for a beefcake photo shoot in Interview magazine, consumes drugs, and has sex with multiple women.

However, he does experience some brief happiness during the holidays when he commences a short-lived romance with fellow New Jerseyan Julie Black, a soap opera starlet determined to succeed in the film industry.

After elderly 54 regular Mona (aka Disco Dottie) dies of a cocaine overdose during Anita's debut performance, Steve asks a grief-stricken Shane to ignore the incident and continue working.

Ultimately, Steve receives an 18-month prison sentence for tax evasion, and 54 closes; upon release, he is forced to sell 54 but remains associated with the club as a consultant under the new management.

Meanwhile, Shane communicates regularly with Julie, who moves to Hollywood and lands a bit part in a film, but he, Anita and Greg drift apart.

Anita releases a moderately successful album with Casablanca Records and Greg obtains a construction job after serving six months of probation for dealing drugs.

Shane works nights managing a restaurant in Greenwich Village and takes business classes at NYU during the daylight hours; he also improves his relationships with his father and sisters by visiting them weekly.

Christopher intended for the film to capture Studio 54's notoriety as "the epicenter of the gay cultural explosion in New York City" and wanted the story to be told from the perspective of "Shane, a kid from New Jersey who sleeps his way to the top of the 54 pecking order, which means that he becomes one of the shirtless bartenders for which the club was notorious, golden boys who flexed and preened for the clientele of both sexes, occasionally deigning to grant sexual favors in return for money and drugs".

[10] The postproduction process was troubled, with Weinstein hiring a second writing team to flesh out new scenes that play up a romance between Shane and Julie.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Robbed of its integral LGBTQ themes, 54 is a compromised and disjointed glance at the glory days of disco.

Strong word of mouth and support led to New York LGBTQ film festival Outfest screening the rough cut to a sold-out crowd in 2008.

[13] Of 54: The Director's Cut, critic Louis Jordan wrote, "Driven by character and atmosphere rather than soapy plot, Christopher's film is permeated by a melancholy that adds depth to the ecstatic party scenes.

Mike Myers nails the pathos and charm behind Rubell's luded-out lechery, while Phillippe's measured performance, finally given space to breathe, is vulnerable, amoral, and sexy.