A Film Review by James Berardinelli (suite)
When we first meet Shane, he's gazing longingly across the Hudson River at the Manhattan skyline. He's bored by the local nightlife and wants to go into the city. After persuading his car- owning friend to drive him there, he ends up standing outside of Studio 54, trying to get in.When the club's owner, Steve Rubell (Mike Myers), spies Shane, he is taken by the young man's good looks,and waves him through.Soon,Shane has joined the ranks of bare-chested busboys working under the strobe lights.
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He makes friends with a co-worker, Greg (Brecklin Meyer), who teaches him the ropes.Greg is married to a coat-check girl and would-be singer, Anita (Salma Hayek). Meanwhile, Shane's favoritism by Rubell and a prominent socialite (Sela Ward) puts him on the fast track.
It's not long before he has been promoted from busboy to bartender. As a result of his new job, he gets all the women and drugs that he wants, and has set his sights on a soap opera actress, Julie Black (Neve Campbell), whom he has long admired from afar. Actor Ryan Phillippe (I Know What You Did Last Summer) fails to make much of an impression as Shane. It's not all his fault–this is not a well-developed character–but Phillippe is unable to hold his own when placed in scenes with the radiant Salma Hayek and the equally charismatic Neve Campbell.
And he really looks bad when acting alongside Heather Matarazzo (the lead from Todd Solondz' Welcome to the Dollhouse), who plays his sister, Grace. Somehow, Phillippe seems dwarfed by his surroundings while his co-stars manage to blend in with them.
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