Alas, this is a cliched case of style over substance. The trite story is a letdown because it traverses a predictable arc. While it's true that some of the people and events in 54 are real, and therefore only subject to marginal manipulation by the script, the disappointment comes from how shallow the fictional elements are.The movie's central character, a 19-year old Jersey City boy named Shane O'Shea (Ryan Phillippe), is Christopher's creation, and he's not especially interesting.