Shane dreams of leaving New Jersey for a life bigger than the one his father has.  His mother always told him, "You can be whatever you want to be."   So he decides he wants to be employed at the most prestigious club in the world:   Studio 54.  Steve Rubell loves him, he stays with a couple people he became friends with at the club and gets to meet celebrities, get free drugs of the best quality and gets prime sex from anyone he wants/wants him on the dance floor!  Shane becomes Shane54 as his days from a mere busboy grow to bartender where he gets to see and do it all!  The party is non-stop until the club is shut-down for holding out on the IRS.  

A lame storyline to be sure.     That's what went to the screens -
here's what the original version was supposed to be like:

Shane dreams of leaving for a life bigger than his father's.  So he gets a job at Studio 54 where he is assaulted by sex, drugs and disco!  Wild nights every night that take over his life completely, distorting everything he knew.  You can have sex with anyone you want on or off the dance floor.  Drugs are served with the alcohol and the fringe benefits of working there are unbeatable.  Shance gets caught up falling in love with his friend's wife and has a steamy affair that will eventually break up the marriage.  Shane and friend, Greg (husband to Hayek's character)   find themselves embraced in a heat of fervor that shakes Shane to the core.  Shane is caught up in one of the most controversial clubs in the world until it is raided by the IRS. 

The film was lacking.  But the fault does not fall onto the director or the actors this time. This time the responsibility fals upon the shoulders of the studio - In this case, Miramax.  Why?  What has Miramax done?  They tore apart and corrupted the work and art of Mark Christopher.  Let me tell you a story:  Mark Christopher persuaded Miramax to let him direct this story that he wrote because of the work his did on two gay-themed indie shorts that won the film-festivals' acclaim.   Miramax, who produced films such as the very controversial KIDS (about underage kids having sex) and THE PRIEST (which is about a homosexual priest who has sex).   Miramax held true to these two films and defended them against their parent company, Disney.  When Mark Christopher came on board to direct his script on the infamous Studio 54, they knew from the script already, that they were going to have a controversial film on their hands.   They asked him to tone things down in the script to make it more mainstream, which included a love affair between two men.   This alone should have gave a warning sign to Chrsitopher. But I can't blame him for not noticing, this was to be his first feature film and I'm sure he didn't want to blow it.

But something fuzzy happened somewhere.  No one will say exactly what happened or why, but for some reason, Miramax told Christopher to get the cast and crew back together for some reshooting.  This was two months before the film was to go to theatres!  This, to put it mildly, was an inconveiniece to the cast and crew who were all working on other projects at the time of the reshoot.  Why did Miramax want a reshoot?  Well, as far as I can tell, there were a few things.  Mainly:   there is one scene where  Shane and his friend Greg share a passionate kiss onscreen.  Also, there was a lot of sex between all genders.  Gay sex, straight sex, and bi-sex.  There was also an enourmous amount of drugs in the film.   Miramax also felt that the bigger names in the film were deserving of more screen time and wanted Christopher to give them some more.  This way it will help hold the film in the box office.  (That's like saying, "We'll make a really bad edit of THE AVENGERS and hope that the big-name stars will keep it afloat in the theatres."   But I won't point fingers. :-))  basically, Miramax felt that the film was still not mainstream enough enough and they wanted it redone.

Christopher reshot his film.  It would seem that the reshoot and voice-overs were an effort by Christopher to make it more mainstream in order to satisfy Miramax.  But now, there is no edge to the film.  This started off as a mainstream Independent film that would shock the audience.  Instead, it seemed more like a big-budget after-school movie with sex and drugs.  Sad.  Christopher cashed in his artistic licenses and creative ideas for the chance to work for a major studio. 

But it's still not his fault. He needs to find a job in this large industry and he was only doing what he had to do to keep that job.  Miramax is the one to blame for what this film has become.  Originally, they approved of the script, then they kept changing it.  Gladstein said, "Miramax ordered a pretty edgy film; we gave them a pretty edgy film; they're going to release a pretty edgy film."  If what I saw was that edgy film, then it must have been a two foot high edge.

(The last edgy film I saw was one a friend of mine appeared in about a war on minorities. There's no talking in the film, it's roughly 15 minutes long, and it's about a future where homosexuals are hunted down and killed by a religious military akin to Hitler's Nazi regime.  It's set as a period piece looking a lot like 1939 Germany or Poland - but instead of swatzikas, the soldiers had a cross on their armbands.   Now that's adgy and chock-full of shock value for the average person who only watches mainstream film.  Me?  I found it very interesting and artistic. With a lot to say to the audience.  I think this film could get a few awards at some film festivals.  If you want to know more about it, let me know.)

WAIT FOR VIDEO!!!!

Sure I  had fun during this film, but it wasn't what they claimed it would be.  I was dissapointed in what it became and I truly, madly, deeply believe that this film should have went straight to video so it wouldn't embarass anyone.  Good thing I saw it on "Budget Night".