MovieChat Forums > 54 (1998) Discussion > Quite possibly the worst movie of the 90...

Quite possibly the worst movie of the 90s

posted 19 years ago by DoubleDeuce
46 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie on Encore tonight. I have seen it several times before and always felt it was weak, but this time it really hit me how absolutely wretched it is. The only decent part is Mike Myers' portrayal of Rubell. The acting is horrible, but the script is even worse. I can't count how many times the potential climax turned out so incredibly anticlimactic. And the lip syncing by Salma Hayek? OHG how "tacky" as Steve Rubell would say. It just doesn't build to anything nor does it deliver any sense of sympathy for the characters. I just wonder how it got a 5.5 on the rating scale.

"He's not coming back." -Johnny Utah

[–] jensbtoy 19 years ago

Yeah, it sucked but quit whining, theres a ton of worse movies than this and I'm sure in the week before you saw this,something even suckier was on, so, since you don't like it and continue to watch it (we know you like it), try changing the channel next time so we can believe you when you say you didn't like it. Who watches movies they don't like, over and over and over and over......

[–] DoubleDeuce 19 years ago

The kind of people who love watching "awesomely bad" films. Check out the thread under "Road House" for this category. Yes, 54 is horrible but it's like a car wreck- you have to stop and look even though you know you shouldn't.

"He's not coming back." -Johnny Utah

[–] liberalcajun 18 years ago

I disagree ...I think it was one of the best from 1998...Mike Myers was great in the film.

[–] ohmixmaster 19 years ago

Yep, this movie sucked in a bad way. However, the movie had a great soundtrack, and a brilliant performance by Mike Myers (probably his best to date, and as bad as this movie was, he deserved a nomination for best actor).

"Religion is the opium of the people" - Karl Marx

[–] chettysocks 19 years ago

doint talk *beep* man it,s a great film,dance man.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] megan_247 19 years ago

uhhh I thought the movie was reallly good!

[–] daniel-brownsey 19 years ago

This movie is that bad, I felt depressed I had wasted the night watching it. I feel worse for the cast, crew and writers who actually wasted a lot more time on this dribble. Movies, in my opinion, need to offer something to the viewer to be watchable (disgust doesn't count). It may have only been there to tell a story, but for it to be entertaining viewers need to be able to relate to the characters. I am a fairly liberal person but I could not relate to any of the characters at all. They all just seemed like 2-dimensional each with a complication to boot. Terrible, terrible movie. 1/10

[–] MRC012370 17 years ago

When I first saw the movie in 1998, I saw it in the theater with a friend. We walked out of the theater hating it. Since then, in the past year, I've watched it twice On Demand, and the film seemed better to me. Mike Myers gave a great performance as Rubel, and one could really get a feeling of what life was like at the time the movie took place, and how life was at 54.
By no means is this a great movie, but, I enjoyed it more now than I did when I first saw it 10 years ago.

[–] hilljayne 19 years ago

I disagree. If you ever lived in the club life, for however long, you totally 'get' this film.

Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.

[–] buffdaddy23 19 years ago

did u forget THE POSTMAN / BATMAN AND ROBIN?

The batcard - "Don't leave home without it"

[–] GoldenGiirl16 19 years ago

If this is the worst movie you could come up with in the 90's .. where the hell were you??

[–] Ysquare 19 years ago

I like Psotman and Batman & Robin. They are not my favourite movies but there ARE worse movies.

[–] jeebusenroute 19 years ago

I agree with your comment on Mike Myers' performance. I thought that it was the saving grace of this grazing-on-the-surface film.

However, as for worse movie of the 90s? Nah. Yes, indeed check out "Batman and Robin" and "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues."

"I don't know about what happened. . . because once you start writing, it all becomes fiction."

[–] DoctorKay 18 years ago

One of the worst films of the nineties?
Have you never seen a Van-Damme-film? Or a Hulk Hogan?

I didn't think it was too bad as well, I don't think the acting was bad, escpecially Myers is great.

There are really worse movies.
One of them is "Shakespeare in Love" by the way....

------------------------
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster!"

[–] Caprica_Tonks 15 years ago

How could you think Shakespeare in Love was a bad movie?!??!?!?

~I can hear his beard!!~

[–] stormrider57 19 years ago

Maybe the whole POINT of the movie was to portray just how low culture had sunk at the time. Mike Myers is a better actor than his character here- Steve Rubell WAS an over-the-top guy, and Mike portrayed him beautifully and accurately. And it's no coincidence that an old woman can dance and drug herself to death and have the world go on without her after 30 seconds of stunned silence. It was at least a little refreshing to see Shane escape his dead-end existence at the end, even if he literally lost the shirt off his back.

[–] whatmyanussays 19 years ago

As Stormrider says, the movie is utterly... bad, yet, could anyone really make a good movie out of this particular subject?

Well, to tell the truth, maybe one really could - the above 'excuse' doesn't quite cut it. While the movie does leave me feeling disgusted and spent, and while it just may be the whole point - a critique of the hedonistic pop culture of the period, the point just doesn't come off clearly and effectively enough. I'd go as far as to say that the movie seems to almost support it at times, but then again, I could be wrong - it could just be an endurance test. 57 is what you get, no more no less, you make your own mind about it. But who would really want to spend hours of his life doing this?

Whatever may be,

The music pounded the very life's blood out of me with the constant sugary beat and synth melodies, the strobe lights made me feel spent and tired, and the whole storyline around the characters never really went anywhere. The movie is just bad, but if it's goal is to make me feel disgusted by the Studio 54, it did a good job. But, possibly, in a wrong way.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] DoctorJA 19 years ago

Nah...

There are LOADS of other crap than this. How 'bout all of those sci-fi toads? How 'bout those rap movie pieces of sh!t? Any movie with Sela Ward is great: she's the sexiest milf I've ever seen!!!

[–] LadyDi4476 18 years ago

It is pretty bad but I wouldn't say it was the worst film of the '90s.

It's worth looking at only to see the beautiful Ryan Phillipe. He is UNREAL in this movie.

"There's never enough time, never enough" ~ BBM